Incest
by Tailsisreal
Summary: It's been two years since she left me. Two years that I've been alone. Now, suddenly, there's someone else who just came into my life, but do I dare to love again? And, what if that love is forbidden anyway? Son/Amy & Tails/OC, not your typical 'Mary Sue'
1. Chapter 1: A Chance Encounter

Incest

Disclaimer: OK, let's get this out of the way right off the bat and be done with it. (sigh) I don't own Sonic, Tails, or any related characters. I do, however, own and take great pride in my OC that appears frequently in this story, Mystique. Also, I do own any references to my Lethal Mutation series which are included throughout this story as well.

Now that that's out of the way, I can give this story a proper introduction. As mentioned above, this story takes place in my Lethal Mutation universe and begins a couple years after the conclusion to Season 3 of Sonic X. This will be a story filled with emotions and character interplay, so any fans of my more actiony stories may be slightly dissapointed at times. Also, this story is the debute of my first real OC character and will hinge quite a bit around her. But, rest assured, this is a Tails' centered story through and through, and my OC will not be the main focus of the overall fanfic! (although some could probably argue the point as this story develops further) Please read, review, and, like always, enjoy!

Chapter 1: A Chance Encounter

"Central City," he muttered to himself as he walked the busy streets of the bustling Mobian metropolis. "Now I know why I don't like coming here very often," the fox continued talking to himself as he stole a glance at the sky above, which was all but entirely eclipsed by the towering buildings all around him, "It just reminds me too much of Station Square and Chuck."

Tails hastened his footsteps and kept his eyes on the pavement ahead of him as he lightly jostled through the thick crowd near an intersection. _Plus, there's just too many people here!_ Tails added to his list of reasons to dislike the urban environment as he made sure to keep both of his tails held tightly against his back to avoid them getting trampled on. He had only come here today because he was in need of a rare part for one of his newest inventions, a part so unique that the fox was forced to special order it from the only company in Mobius that would handle such a request. This company, unfortunately, refused to ship the finished part to his home way out in the Mystic Ruins, so Tails had been forced to come to the company's headquarters here in Central City to claim the needed piece. Upon remembering what he had come here for, Tails idly reached down with one hand into his left tail and felt around to make sure that the expensive device he had already retrieved hadn't been lifted from him by some random pick-pocket. Feeling the small, metal globe's cold touch on his gloved hand almost immediately comforted the fox that the rare part was indeed still in his possession just as the light changed on the intersection ahead of him and the crowd he was surrounded in surged forward to cross the street.

Unable to move in any direction but forward because of the sea of other Mobians around him, Tails simply moved with the crowd as he tried to look around for a sign or landmark that he could use to find which way he needed to go to get back to the parked X-Tornado at the airport on the outskirts of Central City. _Man, I hate being so stinkin' short!_ Tails griped to himself as he was unable to see anything over the shoulders of the fully grown Mobians surrounding him. _It's been what, two years since I helped Sonic save the whole universe from the Metarex? And yet, in that whole time, I've probably only grown about a couple more inches! At this rate I'll be lucky to ever get just 5 feet tall, and I've already started puberty almost a year ago, too!_ Giving up entirely on possibly catching a glimpse of some kind of marker through the crowd, Tails quickly shifted to plan B. Quickly rotating his two tails to full speed, the yellow kitsune instantly shot himself into the air above the bustling crowd.

"Hey! Watch it, buddy!" the person who had been walking right behind Tails yelled up at the airborne fox.

"Sorry!" Tails reflexively apologized right back before flying away down a less populated street further ahead. He kept making his way towards the east end of town where he knew the airport and the X-Tornado would be waiting. After traveling by air for a few blocks, Tails comfortably settled down to the sidewalk again in a street that only had a few scattered pedestrians walking around the residential inner-city neighborhood. _Now this is much more like it! If I can just stay in this residential district all the way to the airport…_

Suddenly, however, a scream of help that clearly came from a woman made its way to the yellow fox's sensitive ears. Tails stopped in mid-gait as the noise repeated itself from an alleyway directly ahead, this time slightly louder as well. Instinctively, Tails rushed to the entrance of the small alley between two apartment complexes and peered cautiously around the corner with his curious blue eyes.

What he saw wasn't quite what he had expected. A female fox that appeared to be around his own age was clearly being accosted by a brutish-looking male hound. The woman's canine assailant was easily twice the size of both Tails and the unfortunate damsel and was clad fully in black leather, except for his studded belt which was undone and thus allowed the dog's unzipped fly to be fully open to the eavesdropping Tails. The female fox, however, wore not a single stitch on her almost orange furred body. Tails kept watching in surprise as he saw the hound reach out with his black fingerless gloves and start grabbing the helpless vixen on the patch of mis-colored fur that covered her chest area much like Tails' own, except hers was more of a pale cream or peach color instead of pure white. This action served to greatly frighten and irritate the female fox who let out another loud scream before biting her sharp teeth into the arm attached to one of the hands now forcefully grabbing her breasts. Unfortunately, this act of defiance only earned her a moment's reprieve as the stunned hound quickly pulled his arm back in pain and instinctively applied pressure to it with his other hand.

"So, that's the way you want to play it, eh, you stupid b****?!" the enraged dog howled out as his good hand quickly came forward and slapped the female fox across the face with enough force to throw the unfortunate lady to the grimy pavement of the alleyway. The vixen made no comment at the hound's brutal physical and verbal assault as she instead burst into tears as she lay quivering on the cold ground.

Tails had seen enough. He didn't care that this canine bully was easily twice his size; that dog had just done the single most horrible thing he had ever witnessed to this woman, and Tails was going to give that bad dog a good beating. "Why don't you try picking on someone your own size?!" Tails shouted down the alley without thinking as he slowly approached the male hound who seemed to be in the act of crouching down to position himself over the adolescent lady's shaking body.

Quickly standing back up to full height and spinning around, the dark, leather-clad canine took a fast look at his uninvited guest. "Like who, you, squirt?!" the dog shouted as he growled menacingly and showed off his mouth filled with fangs.

Tails' realized deep down that he had really made a mistake this time. His foe was stronger, meaner, tougher, and bigger than he was by a large margin, but the fox's pride and sense of justice still drove him to act defiant. "Leave her alone, or else!" Tails shouted back undaunted.

"Haaa ha ha ha ha! Look kid, I like your spunk, so I'll give you five seconds to get out of here before I start tearing you apart limb for limb!" the likely gang member hound threatened while a smirk crossed his slightly elongated face.

Tails didn't move an inch either towards or away from the sneering hound as he glared furiously at the waiting dog. He knew that he was in way over his head here, but Sonic was probably on the other end of the world right now and, even with his impressive speed, Tails doubted that the blue hedgehog would make it in time for the fight that would start any second now.

"OK, kid, I warned ya! All you had to do was just leave me and the missus alone to enjoy our little playtime, but now you've just made yourself a casualty!" Almost instantly, the angry dog rushed forward with a brutal jab straight at the fox's white-crested chest.

Tails saw the attack, and, although the blow was incredibly fast by most street fighting standards, he managed to easily twist his body completely out of the way of the incoming fist. Having thrown too much of his weight into the initial blow in hopes of earning a quick KO to the smaller fox, the hound stumbled forward past Tails for a moment as the nimble fox saw the opportunity for a quick counter attack on the unbalanced brute. Almost instinctively, Tails completed his dodge-spin into a full 360 degree rolling kick that connected hard against the canine's rear end and sent the leather clad opponent sprawling forward to the hard asphalt below.

"Oooff! Not bad, squirt!" the dog commented as he slowly stood up again to face down the yellow kit who stood with fists cocked at either side of his body and a look of determination on his face. "You've got a little quickness in you, don't ya? Well, let's just see you dodge this!" the hound yelled as he again rushed forward at the waiting fox.

Tails found that his assailant's attacks were now a lot harder to read and dodge in time as the dog came at him again with an expert flurry of punches and grabs, any one of which could seriously injure or completely subdue the more fragile fox. Luckily, training with Sonic and on his own all these years had turned what Tails lacked in endurance into unparalleled agility as the kitsune miraculously managed to stay one second ahead of his foe and avoided every incoming blow with what seemed to be supreme ease to any observer who happened to be watching the fight. A lightning quick double-handed grab then forced Tails into the air as he hovered safely just above arm's reach of the aggravated canine.

"Oh great! Just what I needed! A little freak that isn't just fast, but he can fly!" the dog bellowed as his little game of pummel the helpless runt hit a snag. "Come on down here again, squirt, and let me pound you!"

Tails felt his whole body getting hotter as the dog yelled at him from below. Anger was a feeling that Tails was all too familiar with now. Gone was the absolute purity of character that his friends all still felt the young fox possessed. The Metarex had taken that from him almost two years ago today, and now this sneering bully was going to see the true side of Miles Prower that was left over from that horrible day in Sector Triple Zero. "I'm not a kid, I'm not a squirt, and I am most certainly **not a FREAK!!**" Tails screamed at the unspeakably rude hound as he dove straight down at the waiting dog in a split second attack.

The black leather-clad dog was caught completely off guard by the ferocity of the flying fox's words and didn't even comprehend the impossibly fast dive bomb drop kick until Tails' sneakers we both impacting his face with a force so strong that the hound's naturally long nose was shattered instantly by the merciless blow. Thrown to the ground yet again by the sheer weight of Tails full-body coup-de-grace maneuver, the huge, tough canine started wailing from the sheer pain of its mutilated face as both of his hands tried to cover the bloody mass that was once a perfectly good nose. Stumbling to his feet without the benefit of his hands to help him, the canine threw pride to the wind and dashed out of the alleyway using the same entrance that Tails had come in through earlier, probably to seek immediate medical attention for the unbearable pain coming from his smashed nostrils.

"That's right! Go run off and chew on your shirt like a good little dog!" Tails vehemently yelled out the open alleyway after the retreating canine. Tails still felt enraged even after that final blow which took down the oppressive brute rather handily. Hands clenched tightly into fists, he just stood there staring out of the narrow alley, his whole body shaking almost violently at the rush of anger mixed with adrenaline which now held complete dominion over the usually pacifist fox. A soft whimper from the ground behind him, however, snapped Tails back to normal in an instant as he turned quickly to see the female fox still quivering in a protective ball on the dirty floor of the alley. Slowly and carefully walking up to the crying figure, Tails did his best to comfort the stranger that he had just saved. "It's OK. He's gone for good, now," Tails did his best to reassure her that the coast was finally clear.

"No, he'll be back. They always come back, especially if they already paid," the shaking female muttered as she noticeably calmed down a little, but still refused to avert her eyes from the ground to look at her savior.

"Paid? You mean you let him do that to you just for money?!" Tails caught himself raising his voice by accident in his shock.

"No, that one just got out of hand. Thanks for rescuing me, though," the vixen who was light orange with a cream-furred chest and muzzle responded as she slowly uncurled to stand up. She slowly rose to her full height as Tails offered a hand to help her up. The female fox ignored the proffered hand, however, and proceeded to stand up by herself, almost seeming to inch away from Tails' outstretched hand the entire time.

Realizing that the woman obviously didn't want any physical contact of any sort, Tails quickly lowered his hand back to his side and decided to ask her a simple question instead. "So, uhhh…, what's your name, Miss?"

"My name's Mys…" the strange woman started to answer as she finally got up the nerve to turn around and face her mysterious benefactor. Upon catching sight of Tails, however, her words instantly caught in her throat and her face changed to that of pure shock. For a whole ten seconds, she didn't make another sound at all as she seemed to gape at the sight of the yellow and white kitsune in front of her. "M… Mys… Mystique," she finally managed to stutter the answer as she continued to stare at Tails.

"Mystique, huh? That's a kinda strange name, don't cha think?" Tails tried to ignore the open-eyed stare he was getting from the strange vixen.

"W…well, m…my friends call me Mysty for short," the female fox obviously named Mystique stuttered out slowly as she remained transfixed on Tails.

"Ummm… OK. Where are your friends, Mysty?" Tails kept up the questioning despite her wide-eyed stare giving him the heebie-jeebies. He got no response from her at all this time, though, as she kept on looking right at him, or rather, something that was right behind him. Finally, Tails couldn't take it anymore and politely demanded an answer from her for the cause of her staring. "Ya know, it isn't really polite to just stare at people. What's the matter?"

"Oh! I'm so sorry, it's just… well…, I just noticed that you have… two tails," the vixen finally answered as she consciously forced her eyes to look away from Tails and at a random oily splotch on the alley floor.

"Oh, that…" Tails dejectedly spoke as he noticed her discomfort at his presence. "You know, having two tails isn't really a bad thing. I'm actually happy that my parents gave me these! Well, sort of, I guess," Tails' mildly optimistic tone again reverted back to one that betrayed a deep inner sorrow related to the topic at hand.

"No, it's not like that!" Mystique suddenly called out as she realized her mistake. "I… I actually like two tails. Yours are better than mine, at least."

Tails couldn't tell if she was being sincere or not and looked at her carefully again to try and read her body language in the awkward silence that followed. It was then that he first took notice of the female fox's own long tail. How he could have missed it up until now struck Tails as highly unbelievable. Her tail was around the same length as both of his, but it was almost twice, if not more so, as wide and bushy than his own two furry appendages. This giant tail was left to drag the ground at almost all times it would seem by the smudges of dirt and grime left on its poorly groomed hairs. "Umm… well, I suppose that there still has to be some uses for a huge tail like that," Tails tried to be optimistic and reassure the female fox.

"Not really," came Mystique's short reply. "Look, I'd better go before that guy brings his friends and…"

"Don't worry, I'll just call the police to come and give you an escort home!" Tails cut her off as he reached for the button to activate a mini-transceiver in his high-tech wristwatch that he always wore when he was away from home nowadays.

"No! Please!" Mystique scared Tails by forcefully refusing the assistance. Seeing the look of confusion on the shocked fox's face, she quickly explained further, "Sorry, b…but I really don't want the police involved in this…"

"It's OK," Tails instantly acquiesced. "How about I just walk you home instead?"

"Well… I… I really… I mean," the vixen finally stopped her chopped words with a quick sigh and continued, "I… well, I actually don't have a house."

"Really? Then where do you sleep at nights?" Tails innocently inquired as he heard the sad truth of her homelessness. For a response however, Tails only got an eyeful of fresh tears from Mystique as he realized that he had somehow hit upon a bad topic and decided to drop it. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that it…"

"No, it's OK," the vixen cut him off abruptly as she tried to wipe away the tears that had been reforming in her eyes.

Tails still got the feeling that things really weren't all that 'OK' for her, but he didn't want to risk making her cry again by continuing the conversation. He was just about to say goodbye and continue on his way to the airport when something in the good natured side of himself forced him to stop and try one last offer. "Ummm… Mysty? Uhhh… I live all the way out in the Mystic Ruins at my workshop, you know, and, well, it's a big house, but I'm the only one in it. So, there's plenty of room if you wanted stay somewhere for a while."

"No, I couldn't possibly…" Mystique's voice trailed off even in the middle of her instinctive denial. How many times had she been offered to sleep in someone else's home for less amiable reasons before and said yes? Besides, this fox might know the answers to some of her lifelong questions; his twin tails assured her of that much. Quickly she realized that this was an opportunity far too great to pass up, but she still felt strangely uneasy about the decision. "Well, maybe I could, but what about food and rent? I don't really have any money, so…"

"Don't worry about it!" Tails said as he gave a reassuring thumbs up, a move he had learned from Sonic a long time ago. "I have plenty of stuff for us to eat, and I don't really need any money from you, anyways!"

"Well, I suppose…" Mystique finally gave in as she wondered if this was either the best decision she'd ever made in her life or the worst one. This two-tailed fox had taken down that huge dog earlier, which meant that if he wanted his way with her later, she would be helpless to resist. Still, every bone in her body told her that this fox wasn't that kind of guy, an instinct that she quickly reminded herself had gotten her into a lot of trouble before, too.

"Great! Come on, my plane's this way," Tails happily led her out of the alleyway and down the street. He wasn't quite sure why he was so excited that she had said yes yet, either, but he figured that it was just the satisfaction of doing something good for another person. "Just wait until you see it! My X-Tornado is super fast!" Tails boasted good-naturedly.

"Sir?" Mystique suddenly called out as she followed cautiously behind Tails and seemed transfixed by his flowing double tails again, "I just remembered… What's your name?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, that's right! Sorry, I must have totally forgot! My name's Miles Prower, but everyone just calls me Tails," Tails explained.

"Prower…" Mystique softly whispered under her breath as they walked along to the airport together. Unbeknownst to Tails who walked in front as he led the way, several times she would glare at his two tails and then twitch her own large tail as if she was trying to mimic the motions of his twin appendages with her own single one. "Tails…" she continued whispering to herself.


	2. Chapter 2: Full House

Incest

Disclaimer: I don't own Jack! And Jack doesn't own anything Sonic related either! XD

It's almost 2:00 am here when I posted this, but I had just finished it finally and it's been way overdue because of my unfortunate health recently, so I decided to go ahead and get it over with. This chapter turned out much larger than I thought it would originally, but I'm actually glad that it did since I now would be hard pressed to find a single sentence that I would actually erase. For all you readers who are skeptical based on what you read for chapter 1, I hope that this new chapter will be much more enjoyable for you. And to everyone who already liked where this story was going anyways, it just keeps getting better for you, too! I'm sorry that I won't leave a list of all my reviewers for last chapter this time, but it's early in the morning and I'm still not feeling fully healthy yet either, so you'll have to forgive me. Anyways, read and review, but mostly, enjoy!

Chapter 2: Full House

"Oh great," Tails muttered audibly as he glanced at the horizon beyond the cockpit of his beloved X-Tornado. "That doesn't look too good."

"What's not too good? Are we going to crash?!" a panicked voice shouted out from the seat behind him as Mystique instinctively cringed against the possible impact that could take place any second now.

Tails heard the sharp tone of horror from his passenger behind him and reminded himself again that not everyone took flying as relaxing of a hobby as he did. "No, I'm sorry, Mysty! I didn't mean that we were in any trouble, at least, not yet," Tails quickly calmed down the frightened female passenger as he pointed out the large domed canopy towards the skies to the North which were slightly ahead and to the left of their current trajectory.

Following his pointed finger out the glass canopy and to the horizon, Mystique saw the source of Tails' obvious concern. Building in the North over the sea which connected to the Mystic Ruins was an ominous-looking storm that appeared to be barreling straight towards them as it grew ever stronger. Lightning pierced through the angry, dark clouds with such a frequency that the soft sound of the approaching thunder was more of a continuous rolling noise rather than a series of loud booms. "Will we beat it?" Mysty instinctively questioned Tails as she began to dread the thought of being forced to fly through such a menacing storm with a pilot that she hardly knew.

"Don't worry, my X-Tornado can beat anything, except maybe Sonic!" Tails both boasted to himself and comforted her at the same time. "Besides, we're already here anyway."

Mysty replied to this by looking out her window on the other side of the canopy as the X-Tornado banked around to approach Tails' workshop on the side of a cliff overlooking the sea. She witnessed a long, black, metal runway with palm trees lining either side which ended in a small hangar immediately adjacent to a decent sized, two story home built into the hillside. As she continued to take in the beauty of the house and its surroundings, Mysty was surprised to see the palm trees lining the runway tilt away from the center as they cleared the way for the sleek jet to land. Clearly Tails was an expert pilot as he managed to set the plane down perfectly without so much as a single jerk when the landing gear contacted the ground, and the X-Tornado throttled down to idle safely inside the hangar at the far end of the runway near the house.

"There, that should do it!" Tails spoke to himself as he maneuvered the custom fighter plane perfectly into place and made sure that everything was powered down properly. "That wasn't too bad, now, was it?" he checked with his noticeably silent passenger.

"N… No. You're a really good pilot," Mystique again stuttered as Tails unhooked his harness and popped the canopy lid. Fiddling with her own harness, she was suddenly embarrassed to see that the belt would not unhook from her waist as she tugged harder on the stubborn restraints.

"Here let me help you with those…" Tails offered his assistance as he extended both hands to free her from the unresponsive harness.

"NO!" Mysty yelled as Tails quickly reached down to grab the malfunctioning buckle over her chest.

Tails was startled by the sudden scream and fell over backwards in his seat that he had been standing on, bashing the back of his head against the dashboard of the X-Tornado in the process.

"Oww!" Tails yelped in pain at the large bump that he received on his noggin for his efforts to be chivalrous.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Tails! I didn't mean to make you hit your head or anything," Mysty realized her mistake and instantly started to apologize for it.

"It's OK, Mysty," Tails replied in a voice of compassion rather than the anger that she had expected from Tails. "After what you went through today, I don't blame you for not trusting guys very much, but you can trust me, honest!"

"How did you…" the dumbfounded female vixen wondered aloud as she contemplated how Tails could have seen through her so easily.

"It's fine, Mysty. Now, come on before the storm gets here!" Tails broke in as he stepped quickly down the small footholds that allowed easier access to the cockpit for those who couldn't fly by themselves. Fighting once more with the seatbelt harness, Mystique finally won and followed Tails down the side of the airplane with an eye still open for trouble. As he lead her outside again from the hangar to walk the short path to his house, Mystique finally found the nerve to speak up again.

"Umm… ah, Tails?" she tried to ask something important from him.

"What is it, Mysty?" Tails helped to loosen her tongue with his acknowledgement of her, as of yet, unspoken question.

"I… well, you… I mean… ooohh…" she found herself unable to ask what was on her mind. However, now that she had already made it known that she had a question to ask, Mystique knew that she had to say something. "Well… Umm…why do you have all those fake palm trees on your runway?" she came up with the first thing she could think of off the top of her head as she mentally berated herself for being so shy.

"You noticed that they were fake?!" Tails spoke as he stopped in his tracks just before opening the door to his house. "Most people can't even tell the difference up close, so how did you know they weren't real?" he sought a good explanation for her uncanny observance.

"How could someone even think that they were real?" Mysty unexpectedly lost her shyness as she started talking freely about the subject she obviously cared about. "Those palm trees are supposed to be _Cocos Nucifera_, right? Well that particular genius of _Arecaceae_ only has one distinct species, and it is only found in tropical climates. Based on the large amounts of deciduous trees growing on this hill around your house, though, I can tell that this is more of a temperate climate, which means that the trees must be fake because they couldn't survive here if they were real."

Tails stood stark still as he listened to her explanation. "Wow, I've got to be the smartest person I know, but you just used a lot of words that are new to me! Could you maybe explain that a little easier?" Tails asked nicely as he scratched the back of his head in both confusion and embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry," Mystique realized that she had lost Tails entirely with her detailed scientific analysis. "I just meant to say that it's too cold here for palm trees like those to grow."

"OK, I got'cha!" Tails replied as he understood now what she meant by her earlier rant. "How did you learn all that stuff about palm trees in the first place, Mysty? You sounded just like a pro!"

"No, I'm not that good, Tails," Mystique quickly denied the praising comment. "I just learned a lot about plants as I grew up because I spent a lot of time in parks."

"So, you're kinda like a… what… Oh, right, botanist!" Tails remembered the proper name for a person who studies plants.

"Not really, Tails, I never went to college to get a degree or…" Mysty again tried to bury the evidence of her own hobby.

"You don't sound like you needed it to me," Tails spoke with a slight chuckle. "I actually like plants too, but probably not the same way you do." After mentioning this, Tails' face noticeably sagged a bit as his innocent, happy smile faded away for a moment. In the blink of an eye however, Tails looked joyful again as he changed the topic. "Anyways, let's get inside now. I think that storm's getting closer."

Indeed, Mysty noticed that the wind had already picked up and the dark, ominous clouds were making quick headway towards the cliffside abode. Without any more delay, she followed Tails through the door to his home, noticing for a split second that Tails hadn't bothered to lock it when he left his home earlier that day. She couldn't tell if that meant that Tails was a forgetful person or if it meant that any neighbors around here were drastically different than those she was more accustomed to. Searching the comfortable house with her eyes, Mystique noticed that it was somewhat spacious and cozy. Unfortunately, most of the table tops and counters were a little cluttered and the overall decor seemed focused more on functionality than appearance. Although the place definitely showed that a woman's touch had not encountered it for quite some time, possibly never, Mystique found it to be rather cleanly as far as most single men's abode's went, an opinion which she was all too qualified to make given the number of examples it was based on.

"Sorry about the mess," Tails said over his shoulder as he walked past Mystique and into the kitchen beyond the living room into which the front door had admitted its guests. "I really wasn't expecting any company besides maybe my friends, and they don't mind that I'm a little sloppy."

"No, it's fine," Mysty quickly responded to keep from possibly insulting her host as she slowly followed him into the kitchen, taking in the sights of the house as she went along. "I've seen worse," she accidentally let the unnecessary addendum to her reasoning slip as she immediately hoped that it hadn't been audible.

"Really? How many others have you seen?" Tails innocently asked the logical question to follow Mystique's last remark.

Mystique stood perfectly silent in the doorway to Tails' kitchen that she had gotten to before her slip of the tongue. She had somehow known that Tails would have asked that, and it made her wonder all the more why she hadn't left her earlier compliment well enough alone after the first sentence. Hearing the question posed to her so bluntly, and the questioner so clueless to its impact on her life, Mysty didn't even try to respond as she instinctively averted her eyes from Tails own.

"Look, I'm sorry if I…" Tails began to apologize again.

"No, you don't need to be sorry for anything," Mystique quickly closed the subject as an awkward silence ensued before Tails returned to what he was doing in the kitchen.

"Dinner may take a little bit. Normally I just have to cook for one," Tails commented as he pulled out a Ziploc bag and a box of breading from the refrigerator and a nearby cabinet. "You can use the bathroom upstairs to clean up a little if you want to," Tails suggested after remembering the somewhat filthy state of her fur, especially that on her large tail.

Mystique didn't take offense at his remark, as a matter of fact, she was glad that he had given her permission without her needing to work up the courage to ask him for it. One thing did keep her from moving to the stairs leading from the living room to the upstairs floor, though. "Wait, Tails, you can cook?" Mystique wondered out loud. She had never really seen a male that could produce anything even resembling being edible before.

"Well, yeah… I kinda have to know how to cook since I live alone now," Tails replied in a voice which suggested that he didn't think male cooks were a strange occurrence at all. "It's not all that hard really; I just follow the instructions on the box for the most part," he explained. "Oh, that reminds me! Are you OK with having chicken?" Tails remembered to be courteous and ask for Mysty's preference.

"Anything's fine with me," Mystique answered truthfully. With her lifestyle, food that was barely even recognizable could still pass for a decent meal. Tails could be frying up road kill, and she would be satisfied, especially since the events of the day had distracted her from her usual mid-afternoon lunch scavenging. Today was planned to be another hit and run from a local hot dog stand down the street from where Tails happened to find her. Just thinking about food was a mistake, however, as her empty stomach immediately let loose with a hungry growl.

"I guess I'll take that as a double yes!" Tails joked after he heard the loud noise from Mystique's smaller belly. "Don't worry, I'll try to hurry while you can wash up or whatever women are always spending all that time in the bathroom doing," Tails attempted to reassure Mysty after noticing that she was beginning to blush from her stomach's loud protest.

Mysty once again didn't see the need to object to Tails' clichéd view of women behavior. After all, she usually didn't have that much makeup herself, so her own time spent in a bathroom was normally not very long at all. Following Tails' directions, she proceeded up the stairs in the living room and walked down the upstairs hallway until she reached a slightly roomy bathroom with both a shower and bathtub joined together along one wall. Closing the door and locking it behind her, she finally allowed her muscles and nerves to relax that she hadn't even remembered were still tense until now.

* * *

Tails heard the faint sound of the water turning on to the bathtub one floor above as he continued to prepare several pieces of chicken fillets by adding the breading mix and shaking the Ziploc bag containing the chicken vigorously. After a few seconds, and a now thorough coating of the seasonings on the chicken, Tails then transferred the breaded meat strips onto a baking sheet which he shoved into the already warming oven. "I don't see how anything's hard about tha…" Tails began congratulating himself before a loud crash made him almost jump out of his skin in fright.

Recovering slowly from the terrifying and sudden noise, Tails still could feel his whole body shaking. A short series of similar, but thankfully less severe, booms where now heard coming from outside the fox's home. "Oooohh… I hate storms!" Tails objected to himself while the noises from outside continued unabated to the fox's disdain. "You'd think that after all these years I'd have gotten ov…" he tried to carry on a conversation with himself before another deafening peal of thunder frightened him to the point that he hunched over and covered his ears to try and block out the noise. Whether it was this action or the high volume of the menacing thunder outside that caused Tails to miss the door to his house open and then close again quickly is unknown, but the figure that had just let itself into the scared fox's home wasted little time announcing his presence anyways. Dashing straight into the kitchen upon locking the door shut behind him, the unexpected newcomer greeted the doubled over kitsune.

"Gee, buddy, I thought that storms didn't bother you that much anymore," the blue hedgehog mentioned as Tails immediately recognized the voice and looked up again.

"Sonic! What are you doing here right now?" Tails asked the first question to come to mind, momentarily forgetting about Mystique in the process.

"Heh, same reason I always drop in unannounced all the time, bro!" Sonic replied quickly in a jovial voice while flashing Tails a quick thumbs up to help jog the fox's memory.

"Oh, Sonic," Tails instantly got the hint as he slapped one of his hands softly on his forehead in an act he had heard of being called a 'facepalm'. "What did you do to make Amy mad at you **this** time?"

"Funny you should ask, bro," Sonic, still rather jokingly, gave Tails the story. "I was just up there workin' on the roof for the new wing on our house, right? Well, I couldn't find my hammer for nailing in those shingles anywhere, so I guess I decided that I'd borrow Amy's for a while," Sonic concluded as he scratched a blue spine behind his head in mild embarrassment.

Tails' large blue eyes grew slightly as they betrayed the kitsune's confusion. "But… I don't get it, Sonic. Why would Amy get angry at you for that?" Tails asked as he was certain that he had missed something from what Sonic had certainly meant to be funny to the younger fox.

"You're right, bro. Ames wouldn't ever get mad at me for just that," Sonic quickly added as a mischievous smile betrayed that he was hoping Tails' curiosity would bring up that exact question. "Me **borrowing** the hammer isn't what got Amy all steamed; it's what I did with it **after** I borrowed it that made her hit the roof, literally!" Barely had the blue hedgehog managed to mutter these words through his growing smile then Sonic burst out laughing in the middle of Tails' kitchen.

"Sonic! What did you do?" Tails didn't join in the laughter just yet since he was more concerned over understanding the events that had taken place before he accompanied Sonic's laughing fit. Even if Sonic wanted to respond, however, he never got the chance as at that very moment a loud pounding was heard on Tails' front door.

"Uh oh! Gotta hide, little bro!" Sonic instantly stopped laughing as he quickly ducked behind the long counter which separated the kitchen from the living room.

Tails sighed to himself as the pounding on his door continued and Sonic motioned for him to answer it to get the person he knew it was to go away. _Nope, not much has changed in two years,_ the fox thought to himself as he plodded up to the door and opened it wide to the figure standing outside and knocking. Tails immediately stepped back at the sight of the figure in front of him. Amy stood with hammer at the ready in the driving rain from the full-blown hurricane it seemed was happening outside. She was covered in a red aura of sorts due to her intense anger, which coincidentally seemed hot enough to literally vaporize the rain as it fell on her body, giving a brand new meaning to the term 'steamed'. "Umm… H… Hi, Amy!" Tails stuttered as the wrathful Amy forced her way inside his home.

"Don't just 'Hi, Amy' me, Tails!" the irate pink hedgehog yelled. "I know you're hiding him here somewhere! Show me where he is right now, or so help me…!"

"Amy, please, calm down!" Tails begged as he wondered from the thousandth time why he was always forced to put up with this. "What did Sonic do this time?" he asked in hopes of getting the full story from Amy since Sonic's version had been rather cryptic.

"What did he do this time?!" Amy repeated Tails' earlier question as if it was ridiculous that Tails couldn't already have known the answer to it. "That blue saboteur used my hammer to try and fix the roof on the new addition to our house!"

"But, isn't Sonic helping out with building your guys' house a good thing?" Tails asked Amy the same question Sonic had dodged in a way earlier.

"Not the way he decided to 'help'!" Amy shouted the answer. "He tried to use my giant hammer to hit those small nails up there and ended up knocking the whole roof down, RIGHT ON MY HEAD!!" Amy's voice crescendoed until she practically screamed the last part.

Tails, upon finally getting the full story and also realizing what Sonic meant about Amy literally 'hitting the roof', found himself totally unable to keep from laughing. He sunk down on his knees as he laughed so hard that eventually the fox ended up rolling around on the carpeted floor in his living room with tears streaming down his face from the pain of such uncontrolled laughter. He could tell that his endless laughing wasn't making Amy any less angry and that he might really catch it good from her this time, but Tails was still unable to stop himself as the mental image of Sonic hitting the roof of a house with Amy's hammer and the roof collapsing right on top of Amy as a result kept playing over and over in the kit's mind. Tails might have kept on laughing until Amy smacked him over the head with her hammer, too, except that at that moment a tremendously loud crack of thunder sounded off directly over Tails' house that froze his laughter more efficiently than a dip in liquid nitrogen might have been capable of.

"Yipes!" Tails shrieked in response to the massive thunderclap as he instinctively curled all his arms, legs, and tails into a tight ball of fur on the floor of his living room in terror. Amy instantly calmed down considerably as she dropped her hammer gently to the floor to reach out and comfort the frightened kit when her ears caught the faint sound of someone else still trying to stop laughing as well that came from the kitchen. Leaving the quivering fox cuddled up in his protective ball for a moment, Amy stealthily reacquired her hammer in her tight grip and strode silently to the front of the counter separating the living room from the kitchen/dining room combo. Then, without any warning whatsoever, Amy swung the mallet full force over the low counter and down the length of the opposite side located in the kitchen. Her sneak attack seemed to succeed wonderfully, too, as Tails was brought out of his tight fetal position to the sound of a loud, "Whump!" and Sonic's lamented cries.

"OOWWWW!! Man, that hurt, Amy! What are ya tryin' ta do, kill me?!" Sonic retorted in a somewhat less than good natured manner.

"Oh, come on, Sonic! That couldn't possibly have hurt more than having an entire roof come down on your head!" Amy instantly shouted back, her anger from earlier instantly reaching its previously dangerous level.

"OK, OK! Look, I'm sorry, Amy! I didn't do it on purpose! Ya know that, right, Ames?" Sonic somewhat more calmly answered as he felt a large lump on his head with his hands.

"Oh! So you think that just because you act all sweet and innocent that I'm gonna forgive you and just let this whole thing slide, huh?! Well, I've got news for you Sonic the Hedgehog! I…!" Amy tried her best to keep hold of her fury, but Sonic's last words had already taken all the heat from the internal rage that had kept Amy furious up until now. "I… I… Ohhh, Sonic! I'm so sorry! I love you too much to stay mad at you for something as silly as a little accident!" Amy spoke as she dropped the hammer and dashed up to embrace Sonic tenderly.

Tails watched as the two hedgehogs embraced and shared a quick kiss. Two years ago, this would have seemed like something so absurd that it may have made Tails lose his lunch. As it was, the public display of affection still left Tails' insides churning a little as he witnessed it happening right in front of him. Yes, it had actually happened, and Tails actually felt fine about it now despite his concerns when it had occurred. Not long after the Metarex were finally defeated, the Blue Typhoon returned to Mobius, and Christopher Thorndike had gone back to his reality once more, Sonic and Amy started to finally get serious about their relationship. Tails still didn't have a clue why, but for some reason Sonic no longer felt like he should constantly avoid the obsessive Amy unless he was in trouble, and the two quickly fell truly in love. Or, perhaps Sonic finally just fell in love with Amy, seeing as how the pink hedgehog had chased the blue hero for who knows how long now. Either way, not more than a year ago they had made it official. Tails had been Sonic's best man in a grand ceremony that had finally joined the two hedgehogs together in wedlock. Now a married couple, Sonic stayed at Amy's small, one room, domed house as they both worked fervently to convert the tiny cottage into a dream home fit for a married couple and, someday, possibly a family. That was why for the last year or so Tails had lived in his home all alone now, without the blue hedgehog he was always with and still considered a brother to share the large house. He got lonely at times, yes, but Sonic had always taught the young fox well how to deal with sorrow and stress by just getting outside and enjoying nature on a pleasant jog. It worked wonders for him, especially when his thoughts would turn back to… her.

"Yo! Mobius to little bro! Are ya OK, buddy?" Sonic slightly startled Tails as the blue hedgehog's sudden hand on the yellow fox's shoulder tore Tails away from his daydreaming and back to reality again.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine, Sonic," Tails quickly gave the automatic response as he gave a light shake to his head to clear out the remaining thoughts that had plagued him momentarily a minute ago.

"That's good, bro. I thought that maybe that last bit of thunder might have scared you senseless," Sonic quickly added as Tails was left to question whether he had just attempted to make a joke and failed, or if Sonic was voicing a true concern. "But, uhh, I guess we've got a question to ask ya, little bro," Sonic again spoke up before Tails could decide. "It's lookin' pretty bad out there now, Tails, so do ya mind if me an' Ames spend the night?"

At any other time in his life, Tails knew that his instant response to this question would have been a complete and total 'yes'. However, Tails' mind chose this exact moment to suddenly remember the vixen which was now bathing upstairs and began giving Tails mental nightmare scenarios of what would happen if Sonic and Amy found out about Mystique's presence. "Well, Ummm… I, Uhh… I guess…" Tails began stuttering as he quickly tried to weigh the risks on either side of the unexpected situation.

"Is something wrong, Tails?" Amy perceptively noted as she too seemed thrown that Tails hadn't instinctively agreed to the simple request.

"NO! I… I mean, of course you can stay! I just wasn't expecting guests, or else I would have cleaned things up a bit," Tails lied as he wracked his brain to figure out a good way to introduce Mysty to both Sonic and Amy when the inevitable time came. The fox knew that he couldn't possibly keep her a secret from them all night, Sonic and Amy both were far too observant for that. A fact that became all the more clear as Amy casually walked into the kitchen to see what Tails was cooking at that moment.

"Oh, good! It looks like you decided to make extras tonight already, Tails," Amy commented as she noticed enough food in the oven for more than one person by far.

"Yeah, you must have known we were comin' already, bro," Sonic spoke up as well as he glanced over towards the kitchen table which was laid out with silverware and plates for two already. "Except, ya might want to set a place for yourself to eat too, bud," Sonic joked to Tails with a quick wink.

"Well, Sonic, actually I…" Tails started to begin the tough explanation as to why they would now need four plates instead of Sonic's proposed three when a softer voice from the stairs behind him caught everyone's attention.

"Tails?" Mystique called from the stairwell in a voice filled with as much terror as it held confusion.

"Whoa there, little bro! Who's she?" Sonic shifted immediately into brotherly protect and teach mode as the sudden appearance of the stranger from upstairs caught everyone off guard. What frightened Sonic the most, though, was that this female fox, who was clearly very attractive and even more so now after her recent bath, already knew his little brother's name.

"Sonic, wait, please! I… I can explain!" Tails begged as he quickly rushed over to stop Mystique from fleeing back up the stairs and hiding herself somewhere.

"You'd better start talkin' fast, bro," Sonic threatened in a somewhat cold voice at the implications of what he and Amy might have suddenly stumbled upon by accident.

"No, Sonic! It's not like that; I swear!" Tails shouted as he now realized exactly what Sonic and Amy must have thought about the current revelation, and Mysty's and his possible relationship. "I just found her being beaten up by some thug in an alley when I went to the city today, and I offered for her to stay with me for the night because she said that she didn't have a home to go back to."

"Likely story, Tails!" Amy yelled as she quickly joined Sonic standing side by side halfway across the living room from where Tails now stood holding Mystique's shaking hands. "I can't believe you! All this time, and you've had something like this going on right under our noses! How could you…?!" the pink hedgehog just started to get herself worked up again until Sonic unexpectedly cut her off.

"Wait, Amy," Sonic commanded, but in a tone which made it almost sound calm and more of a request, one which the now once again angry pink hedgehog luckily obeyed. "Tails has never lied to us before, has he? Besides, I know my little bro, and Tails would never think of doing something like that behind our backs," Sonic convinced Amy in a surprisingly sensitive voice.

"But…! Ooohh, I guess you're right, Sonic," Amy admitted as she placed down her hammer that she had unconsciously summoned to pummel the fox duo.

"Sorry 'bout that," Sonic apologized as he now shifted his gaze from Amy to the mysterious new stranger which was currently scared enough to be almost stopping the circulation in Tails' hands with her grip. "How about we try introducing ourselves again? I'm Sonic the hedgehog, Tails' big bro, and this is Amy Rose, my wife."

"Your… big brother?" Mysty tentatively asked Tails as she shifted her gaze to stare at the yellow fox next to her that was the only one keeping her from dashing out the door and into the maelstrom outside.

"Well, not officially, of course," Tails explained as his free hand again went back to scratch the rear of his head in his tell tale sign of humiliation. "Sonic and I are actually best friends, and I've always thought of him as my big brother ever since he saved me when I was little."

"Saved you?" Mystique again asked as she realized that Tails must have a very interesting life story indeed, one that could possibly even rival or at least match her own.

"It's a long story," Tails politely refused to go into that much detail at the moment. "Maybe I'll tell ya later."

"Umm… OK," Mysty decided that it would seem rude to press the issue in front of so many people.

"Well, now that ya know who we are, what's your name?" Sonic brought back the question and answer introduction.

"My name's… Mysty," the still somewhat frightened vixen responded. Tails made a mental note to himself how scared she seemed to act around Sonic and that she had only given him her nickname instead of her full name, 'Mytisque'.

"Well then, it's good to meet ya, Mysty," Sonic said with a smile as he held out a hand for a simple handshake in greeting. The female fox, however, refused to take his hand and instead took a half step back when Sonic offered his to her. "What's the matter? Did I say somethin' wrong?" Sonic asked once he witnessed how his innocent handshake proposal affected Mystique.

"No, I'm sorry, Sonic," Tails answered for the shaken vixen. "She's just been really shy all day after I found her. I think that guy who beat her scared her a little so she's uncomfortable around men now."

"The poor thing," Amy spoke in genuine compassion. "What was that man doing with her in the alley in the first place, though?" the pink hedgehog posed the interesting question.

"I'm not sure, and I don't really think Mysty likes to talk about it either," Tails again answered for the speechless vixen. Mystique gave a quick nod of her head to say that she agreed with Tails and didn't want to talk about the day's events at that moment. The awkward silence which then followed probably would have continued for some time except for the delicious aromas that now began wafting softly through the air into the noses of the living room's four occupants. "I think that means the chicken's ready now," Tails was the first to state the obvious. "How about everyone find a seat while I get it out of the oven?" he proposed to break up the uncomfortable group.

Fortunately, his tactic worked as Sonic and Amy quickly turned around to head into the kitchen and Mystique followed a little ways behind. Tails had already dashed in there ahead of everyone and wasted no time in setting places for him and Mysty at the kitchen table before removing the expertly cooked breaded chicken from the hot oven. Within minutes, everyone was now seated at the small kitchen table with a fair amount of food on their plates and their preferred drinks in the glasses in front of them. Tails sat next to Mysty on one side of the table while Amy and Sonic sat side by side on the opposite end. Everyone ate silently for a while, especially Mystique who seemed to be very careful and polite with how she ate.

Finally, however, Sonic tried breaking the long silence in between bites of chicken and sips of cola. "So, where're ya from, Mysty?" Sonic innocently asked the now somewhat calmer vixen across the table.

"I… I don't really know," Mystique found the courage to respond now that she got used to the idea that anyone as nice as Sonic and good enough to be Tails' best friend would never try to harm her either. "Actually, I don't even know who my parents were or anything else other than just growing up as a child," she clarified the limited extent of her own knowledge.

"That sounds kinda familiar if you ask me," Amy blurted in with a voice of skepticism meant as a joke.

"What does she mean, Tails?" Mystique couldn't help but ask immediately as she noticed that Tails let out a slight chuckle at the remark.

"Amy's talking about me, Mysty," Tails explained. "Until a little over two and a half years ago, I didn't know a thing about where I was born or my parents or anything."

"Really? Then how did you find out later?" Mystique quickly placed down her silverware as she turned her full attention towards Tails again in hopes for more information out of him at last.

"Now **that's** a really long story!" Sonic interrupted from across the table as he started snickering to himself at his timely comment and managed to get smiles from both Amy and Tails as well.

"Well, Sonic's right, Mysty. That is a pretty long story, but let's just say that by the time everything was said and done, I knew pretty much everything about my parents, my birth, and my two tails," Tails summarized as he gave his namesakes a slight twitch at the end for emphasis.

"You've got a pretty weird looking tail, too, if you ask me," Amy suddenly remarked as she directed her observation towards Mystique and her larger than usual single tail.

"Well… I…" Mystique couldn't quite find the words to respond as Amy's quick observance actually hit home in a part of the sensitive vixen that she wasn't ready to reveal to anyone yet.

"Amy! That was rude!" Tails immediately jumped to Mysty's defense as he saw her reaction to the pink hedgehog's comment.

"What?! I didn't try to hurt her feelings! All I did was say that she had a big tail!" Amy responded once she noticed that Sonic also had given her a stern and slightly shocked glare.

"Still, you could have said it a little bit nicer, Am…" Tails almost finished his sentence when another loud peal of thunder cut him off and made the scared kit drop his fork from his hand and almost into his drink of soda.

Mystique, having been upstairs the whole time the storm had come through earlier, was surprised by Tails' somewhat extreme reaction to the natural noise generated by the large storm outside. She now understood why Tails had seemed apprehensive about the approaching storm on their flight in earlier this evening. Watching the yellow fox slowly regain control of his shaking hands from the small fright, Mysty finally realized fully that Tails was a real person just like her. After all the treatment that she had received from men over the years, Mystique had actually stopped seeing males as anything other than a walking storehouse of violence and testosterone, but Tails and his abundance of similarities to her own life now convinced her for the first time in quite a long while that other people had also gone through some rough times, had a strange and undiscovered past, and had weaknesses and problems of their own like hers. Unconsciously, that observance of someone other than her being terrified for once changed Mysty's overall reason for coming to Tails' house in the first place. What she had intended would just be a meeting for information, Mystique now found herself fleetingly wishing for something a little bit more, like… a relationship? Quickly realizing in a split second that she was lost in her own crazy thoughts and still staring at Tails, Mystique covered the momentary lapse in her guard by shoving another good sized piece of chicken into her mouth.

"Ya know, bud," Sonic failed to notice Mysty's curiosity towards Tails as the blue hedgehog saw the event as just another ordinary part of knowing Tails on a close level. "After all we've been through together over the years, you'd think that ya wouldn't be so scared of storms by now."

"Yeah, I know, Sonic," Tails spoke almost dejectedly as he consciously willed himself to stop shaking. Then a sly grin worked its way across Tails' face as he shot back with a brilliant comeback, "But you'd also think that after all this time you'd have learned how to swim, too!"

Everyone at the table burst into laughter at this witty response, everyone except Mystique, of course, who was extremely puzzled by the joke which only someone who knew Sonic could understand fully. "Nice one, bro!" Sonic congratulated Tails on the expert rebuttal. "Seriously, who teaches ya these?!" the blue hedgehog kept the fun rolling with his hypothetical question.

"I wonder who…" Amy sarcastically replied anyways, adding a few more chuckles to the dying laughter around the table as Mysty still sat there silently in a lost confusion as to the meaning of the obviously supposedly hilarious comments.

Seeing Mystique's puzzled reaction to all the fun and laughter around her, Sonic and Tails each took turns informing her about the background to those last jokes, while also reminding each other of some other memorable moments that the two had had together in the past. Amy seemed to stay distant in the conversation and almost took the part of an observer which gauged Mystique's every reaction to the boys' conversation with a critical eye. Mysty noticed Amy's unwavering glare as the two men continued on, but was able to shut it out by paying careful attention to the slightly exaggerated stories the two were telling instead. Finally, supper ended and Sonic and Tails decided that they had done enough reminiscing and joking around for one night. Quickly, then, the subject changed to sleeping arrangements for the night since the violent storm outside was still continuing on unabated.

"How about Sonic and I take the guest bedroom upstairs and Mysty can have the sofa?" Amy proposed.

"Are ya really bein' serious about that, Amy?" Sonic asked in genuine surprise at the borderline rude suggestion.

"Of course I am," Amy replied in a well feigned ignorance of her crass request. "The guest room used to be your old bedroom anyways, right, Sonic?"

"Yeah, Ames, but still…" Sonic began to object before he was cut off by Tails.

"No, Sonic, that's OK. You two take the guest room, and Mysty can have my room. I'm fine on the couch for tonight," Tails, always the peacemaker, settled the arrangements for the night.

"No way, bro," Sonic unexpectedly objected as Amy and Tails were both slightly shocked at his refusal of the reasonable terms. "This is your house and your bed, Tails, so you should get to sleep where you normally do. And, since Mysty is your guest, she can have the guest bedroom, too. Amy and I came over uninvited, so we'll take the couch."

"But, Sonic, the couch is a little small for two people, and I don't really mind…" Tails tried to convince Sonic to allow him to be the one to sleep on the relatively uncomfortable sofa in his typical manner of serving everyone but himself first. Sonic, however, was trying to fight this exact behavior from Tails and quickly put his foot down.

"No, bud. Me and Amy will take the sofa tonight, end of story," Sonic somewhat sternly debated with Tails.

"Well, OK, I guess…" Tails figured that the point was now non-negotiable and gave in to Sonic's strange demands. "Just let me get some blankets for you and Amy first."

"That's fine, bro, but we know where they're at. You go ahead and get Mysty all situated and go to sleep yourself; we'll be fine down here," Sonic all but shoved the two fox's upstairs with his somewhat forceful, but still generous, manners.

"Umm… OK, Sonic," Tails simply agreed as he then silently lead Mystique upstairs again and showed her to the spare bedroom next to his that was once used by Sonic over a year ago. Luckily, Tails thanked himself, it had been since then cleaned and redecorated somewhat to be more accommodating to others in the off chance that someone other than Sonic ever had need of it like right now.

* * *

Meanwhile, downstairs Sonic and Amy pulled out a few spare blankets from a slightly buried closet and proceeded to lay them out on the large sofa downstairs while also each keeping a trained ear on the noises coming from upstairs. Amy was the first to break the silence with a short sigh as Sonic glanced down from the roof above him to his wife straightening the sheets in front of him. "What's the matter, Ames? You know that Mysty deserved the guest room more than we did, right?" Sonic asked whether Amy had caught the unspoken reasoning behind his forceful refusal of Tails' bedding arrangements earlier.

"No, Sonic, I know why you did that," Amy spoke without turning around to face him.

Sonic noticed how see wouldn't look him in the face while she talked and grabbed Amy's shoulder to gently spin her around so she would. Amy pretended to be angry at Sonic's bold maneuver at first, but it faded quickly as she made the mistake of looking into his probing green eyes. "You don't like her, do you?" Sonic blatantly came out with the answer and question both to Amy's slightly off behavior tonight.

"No, I don't," Amy spoke softly in a tone that left her sounding somewhat ashamed of her snap judgment of Mystique. Quickly, she tried to rationalize out loud to Sonic and herself why she felt that way, "It's just that… Ohhh, Sonic, you can tell, right? She's a tramp! I mean, didn't Tails say that he found her in an alley today while he was in the city? Sonic, there's only two kinds of people that live in those alleys, and neither of them are very good for Tails, I think!"

"I know, Amy," Sonic slightly startled Amy by agreeing. "I'm not too sure about her either."

"Then you and I need to convince Tails to get rid of her!" Amy quickly began forming an alliance to expunge the potential threat. "I mean, she could be a thief or a murderer! What if tonight…" Amy began her wild speculating.

"If she's a dangerous murderer, then I'm an extra long chili dog with cheese," Sonic objected. "No, I'm more worried that she might be something else, Ames," Sonic admitted.

"Like what?" Amy tried to reach the answer for Sonic's last statement by guessing, "A homeless bum? A gold digger? A prostitute?" Amy stopped guessing after her last statement when she noticed Sonic's facial expression change slightly as if stung by the word.

"Any of those, really," Sonic admitted as he sat down on the now bedded couch and seemed halfway lost in his own thought.

"That's just a better reason for us to get rid of her!" Amy softly raised her voice as she wondered what Sonic had to think about when the proper course of action was so blatantly clear.

"It's not that easy, Amy," Sonic spoke in a tone that Amy was unused to hearing from Sonic as the blue hedgehog stared her in the eyes again. "Couldn't ya see it when he was standin' there with her and introducin' us before dinner? I think that this girl, Mysty, needs my little bro, and he might even need her, too."

"Now you're getting almost as delusional as Vector and Knuckles!" Amy voiced her protest as she couldn't believe what Sonic was implying.

"Why else would Tails volunteer to take her home with him, huh, Amy?" Sonic answered her stiff response by giving her the same reasonable doubt which he now felt. "And you saw the way she acted around us. Mysty is afraid of strangers, so why would she agree to come to some random guy's house for the night?"

"Maybe it's her job to do that, Sonic," Amy venomously returned as she saw Sonic's nonsense as an obstacle to protecting Tails' well being.

"And maybe Mysty is Tails' last chance to ever find love again, Amy," Sonic, instead of the usual angry remark, instead replied in a serious and thoughtful tone.

"You can't seriously think that a scamp like her could take the place of Cosmo!" Amy blurted out in shock as Sonic quickly brought her voice back down and hoped that no one upstairs had heard Amy say that name.

"Shhhh… No, you're right, Amy, I don't think so. But, I can sense that those two have a lot in common with each other, too. I think it's better if we let their relationship grow first until we can be sure whether or not it's a good thing," Sonic wisely suggested.

"You're actually serious?" Amy asked in amazement as she saw the look of sincerity in Sonic's eyes as she now sat down next to him on the sofa.

"I care for my little bro more than anyone in the world, Amy," Sonic told her softly. "I would never let anything hurt him again like has happened to him before with Cosmo. Trust me."

"Well, OK. But tomorrow I still think it would be a good idea to learn more about this Mysty," Amy finally gave in as the two hedgehog's snuggled close to get both of their bodies on the sofa together and wrapped the loose end of the blanket back down and around their exposed bodies. Just before they both drifted into a comfortable sleep, however, Amy had one last thing to ask Sonic. "Sonic?" Amy softly whispered into one of his large blue and tan ears.

"Yeah, Ames?" Sonic sleepily replied.

"You said earlier that you cared for Tails more than anyone else in the whole world, right?" she softly reminded him.

Sonic caught the hint, however, and quickly laid Amy's fears to rest along with both of their tired bodies. "Everyone but you," he romantically answered before the two hedgehogs settled in to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Pasts Revealed

Incest

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story that has to do with Sonic, Tails, and the other Sega owned characters and settings used. I only own this story, Mysty, and this disclaimer. Oh, wait! I also own Keylow, Elisa, and the events from my other story, Lethal Mutation, which appear in this chapter and possibly later ones as well. That is all. (When I put it that way, it sounds like I own more than Sega! XD I wish...)

New Chapter!! Yay! I actually consider this to be a much more timely update seeing as I believe not quite a week has passed between now and the last chapter being posted. Hopefully, I can keep up this faster pace so you readers have at least one new chapter to look forward to per week. Also, this chapter itself I cut short from the length which I anticipated it being when I realized while typing it that I would have a good deal over 10,000 words in just this one chapter if I hadn't! (I know that there's nothing wrong with a huge chapter to most of you, but the more I have to type, the longer you have to wait!) I didn't omit anything, though, just split it all into two separate chapters, the next of which I haven't actually written yet.

Also, for those of you who were wondering about Mysty's botanical genius, I **do not** actually know all these scientific names for all these plants! For that, all I can say is 'All Hail Wikipedia!' LOL However, you would be surprised probably by how much of this stuff I don't need to look up. ;D Also, a huge thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! I'm not actually listing them here as I have in the past because I'm starting to think that the list becomes too cumbersome and discourages new reviewers as well. However, if some of my loyal reviewers complain to tell me that I should keep the list, I will gladly reinstate it on the next chapter. The point behind all this, I WANT REVIEWS! o_0 Now, enough of my blabbering! Time to see just a little bit more of the developements taking place at Tails' house today...

Chapter 3: Pasts Revealed

"So, Mysty, how do you like the pancakes?" Amy asked over her shoulder as she continued cooking even more of the delicious flapjacks over Tails' kitchen stove.

"Mmmm! They are really good, Mrs. Rose!" Mystique politely answered between mouthfuls of the scrumptious breakfast. She quickly reached across the table where she was seated along with Sonic and Tails to grab the bottle of syrup and add a generous amount of it to her plate already occupied by half a remaining pancake. Tails and Sonic watched in slight shock at how the female fox devoured the remainder of her food in a rather greedy fashion.

"Ya know, Mysty, Amy's food may be good, but that doesn't mean that any of us are gonna steal it from ya," Sonic joked while in between bites himself.

"You aren't? I… I mean, right, sorry!" Mystique caught herself and her odd response too late to take back and only prayed that the people in the room just thought that she had been joking. Unfortunately, Tails didn't seem to be quite **that** oblivious.

"You actually thought that we would do that?" Tails asked in worried curiosity. "As good as it tastes, we've all had Ella's… Whoops! I mean, Amy's cooking a lot of times before, so we're almost used to it by now."

"Hmmph!" the table's occupants heard the pink hedgehog at the stove remark upon hearing Tails' little slip of the tongue. "I have to admit that Ella did teach me almost everything I know about cooking, but after all these years I'd like to think that I have developed my own unique style," Amy pridefully debated as she finished with the last of the pancakes and turned the stove off to join the others who were already eating at the small table.

"Who is this 'Ella' person?" Mysty stopped eating momentarily to turn and ask Tails seated right next to her just like last night.

"Ella's a human that we met in another reality called Earth a long time ago," Tails briefly explained. "She really loved cleaning, and she was probably the best cook in the whole universe, too."

"She sounds nice," Mysty commented, strangely not too disturbed with the whole 'from another reality' part which she had probably not caught just a second ago. "If I understood what a 'human' looks like, that is."

"Well, I can't blame ya for not knowin' that," Sonic playfully responded. "There's only one human on this planet, and he's not a very good example!" Sonic's comment got a short burst of laughter from Tails and Amy who were both luckily not in the middle of chewing or swallowing anything at the moment.

"More like too much of an example!" Tails added on to Sonic's joke with one of his own. This got Sonic laughing hard as the blue hedgehog almost spewed a mouthful of orange juice across the table as a response. Mysty, though, not having a clue as to Eggman's identity despite his infamous fame, missed the double joke entirely. Before she could ask, however, Amy spoke up to change the topic.

"So, Mysty, how about you tell us a little more about where you're from?" Amy innocently pried.

Mystique became noticeably unsettled again as the topic shifted directly to her, but she managed to keep enough courage to answer Amy's question without an overly long delay. "Well, like I said last night, I don't actually know much about my past," she tried to avoid the question the same way she had yesterday.

"Well then, how about why Tails found you being attacked in that alley the other day?" Amy tenaciously pried further in a determination to learn more about the still mysterious stranger.

"I…" Mysty's words caught in her throat as she wondered just how much of the truth the pink hedgehog was wanting and just how much she should give her in light of present company.

Tails came to the rescue, however, by again speaking for the tongue-tied vixen. "Well, all I remember was that the dog that was after her seemed to be touching her very inappropriately. Wait, though, didn't you say something after he left about him probably coming back, Mysty?" Tails recalled something that he had been meaning to ask her that was related to the current discussion.

"I… I can't remember," Mysty feebly lied in hopes that Tails would drop it entirely.

"Sure ya do," Tails, in an attempt to be what he thought was helpful, purposefully brought back the discussion. "I remember you saying something like, 'The ones that already paid always come back.' Don't you remember that?" Tails queried.

Mystique gave not one single noise in response. Her facial expression, though, spoke volumes as the female fox grew noticeably paler and she tried to hide her face behind her hands in what could only be seen as a gesture of shame. Finally, through her fresh tears, Mysty managed to respond again to Tails 'helpful' reminder. "It… It was rape. He was just trying to rape me…, that's all," she lied weakly even though she knew that it would most likely not fool anyone. It most certainly didn't sound convincing to her, at least.

"That explains how he was treating you and why his pants were undone," Tails tried to calm her down by taking her side and letting his earlier statement go. Sonic and Amy didn't dismiss it so quickly, however, as they both realized that their worst fears about Tails' new interest were well warranted. Luckily, both hedgehogs had enough tact to avoid pressing the matter and further exasperating the crying vixen as the two simply shared a knowing glance to remind each other of last night's discussion they had after lights out.

"So, Ummm… Mysty," Sonic broke the emotional silence and changed subjects in an effort to put the crying vixen at ease again, "You said that ya liked the pancakes. What do ya normally eat for breakfast back in the city?"

"Usually, I go down to the diner on Sixth Avenue," she calmed down a little while responding and wiping the tears off her face.

"Really? I've been there before a couple times, too, but usually just for lunch. They make one **mean** chili dog with cheese down there!" Sonic commented before his short attention span left him distracted and he unknowingly took the innocent conversation a step too far. "So, if you're a regular there, I bet 'cha got your own seat and usual order and everything, huh?"

"Not… really," Mystique weakly replied as she internally fought to keep her thin composure, which now threatened to break again.

"Really, I thought that maybe you'd be well known in a diner like that. Frank tends to memorize his best customers," Sonic obliviously pressed on unaware of the mounting uncomfortability Mysty's voice now hinted at.

"Oh, he knows my name," Mysty commented in response, "But, I'm not really one of his customers, you see."

"What'd ya mean by that?" Amy interjected. "Do you eat out of his garbage or something?" the pink hedgehog meant the absurd question to be a joke, albeit a somewhat hurtful one. Amy got much more than she had bargained for, however, as this short outburst elicited a new stream of tears from Mystique's eyes which caused the female fox to again cover her face in shame. Though she never motioned to nod in either the affirmative or the incorrect, the timing of Mystique's sudden loss of emotional control again could be believed to have answered the question for her.

"Guys, I think that it would be a good idea to lay off the questions for a little while," Tails proposed as he witnessed the pain that the small interrogation caused to Mystique. Both Sonic and Amy wordlessly agreed and everyone finished the remainder of their breakfast in silence.

Afterwards, Tails instinctively started gathering the plates and silverware from the table to wash in his self-built dishwasher. Noticing his brother's intention, however, Sonic quickly shot out a hand to block Tails' reach for the nearest plate and explained himself, "Hey, bud. Why don't 'cha let me an' Ames take care of this mess while you and Mysty get some fresh air, 'kay?"

"Well, I guess so. Does that sound OK to you, Mysty?" Tails asked the now once again composed, but very distant, vixen seated next to him.

"Yes, I'd like to go out and see this forest around your house, Tails," Mystique quickly agreed, thankful for the distraction.

"Oh yeah, that's right! I almost forgot that you're a botanist!" Tails cheerfully replied as he recalled the big words that she had used the other day to describe his fake palm trees on the runway outside.

"Botanist? You mean like a person who studies plants?" Amy turned from gathering the dirty dishes as the unexpected news reached her ears.

"Well, I'm not a real botanist," Mysty explained. "I don't actually 'study' plants; it's more like I'm fascinated by them."

"Huh, go figure, a girl who likes plants," Sonic mentioned in an audible, but subdued, voice.

"Come on, Mysty!" Tails now hurried himself and her out the door to the pristine landscape outside. "Wow, the storm last night doesn't seem to have done much damage," Tails remarked as he saw relatively few downed limbs in his small front yard and pathway to the hangar.

"These trees are mostly hardwood varieties, so they don't break easily in windstorms," Mystique chimed in with the explanation.

"Is there anything about plants you don't know?" Tails asked in amazement.

"Probably, but I try to know as much as I can about them," Mysty seemed to find a small bit of pride in her extensive biological knowledge. "Try pointing out anything growing in this forest and see if I can name it," she dared Tails.

"OK," Tails accepted the challenge, "How about… that funky lookin' tree over there!" Tails spoke as he pointed to a tree with fern-like branches that hung low to drag the ground.

"That's a _Salix Sepulcralis_, or commonly refered to as a Weeping Willow," Mystique immediately answered. "Actually, there must be an underground spring near there since willows are usually found in very damp soil," she added.

"Wow, you're right! The well that gives me water for my house actually goes down over there too!" Tails responded in amazement. "OK, how about this one?" Tails said as he knocked on a nearby tree while he now led Mystique down the path from his home to the bottom of the wooded hill he lived on.

"That's way too easy. It's a common oak, probably _Quercus robur_ by the way its wood is nice and strong to make good lumber," Mystique rattled off as if it was simple, common knowledge. "This one has a pretty dark shade of bark, however," she also observed.

"So, it's a dark oak," Tails commented. "Well, at least this one can't cause me as much trouble as the last one did," the two-tailed fox gloomily replied, forgetting that he wasn't alone and that Mystique was listening.

"Did a tree like this fall on your house or something?" Mysty asked as she was puzzled by Tails' sudden shift in mood and strange commentary at the mention of the tree.

"No, nothing like that, Mysty," Tails immediately spoke up as he fought to raise his now downcast head and sound happy again. "Let's just keep going, OK? How about this really tall one?" he pointed out the nearest tree he could find to change the subject.

"Hmmm… I think that one might be a red pine," Mysty mentioned after a good look. Tails just groaned and made a mental note to stick to other plants and never tell her to identify any more trees, just in case they too had a Metarex counterpart.

* * *

Back in Tails' home, however, Sonic and Amy were now engaged in a slightly less trivial conversation. "See, Sonic! I told you last night, didn't I? Mysty IS a prostitute!" Amy was completely blunt now that both fox's weren't around.

"Ya can't be sure of that, Amy," Sonic replied in a serious tone. "She never said anything to admit it a minute ago."

"Oooohhh! Sonic, you can really be just about as stubborn as Knuckles sometimes, you know that?!" Amy raised her voice slightly in aggravation as she set the plate that she was currently holding safely into the dishwasher. "She wasn't being raped when Tails found her; she was being laid!"

"Amy!" Sonic yelled back at the unusually behaving pink hedgehog as he was shocked by her sudden hatred of Tails' new acquaintance.

"It's true and you know it, Sonic!" Amy retorted without backing down an inch at Sonic's stern voice. "Tails even said that her attacker had already paid her!"

"He did not," Sonic replied in a convinced voice that covered up the fact that the blue hedgehog was now grasping at straws. "Tails said that he remembered her saying that 'the ones who have already paid always come back', but that doesn't mean that the dog which Tails said was abusing her had actually paid for anything."

"Are you serious?!" Amy responded in a confused shock at Sonic's refusal to accept such a blatant correlation. "Put the pieces together, Sonic! She's a bum, she eats out of the garbage, and she gets laid for money! She's nothing but the worst kind of street trash, and we'd be doing Tails a favor by getting rid of her right now!"

"Not until I'm convinced," Sonic obstinately refused to see reason as Amy clenched her fists and shook in anger.

"And what will that take?" Amy spoke in a deceptively calm voice through gritted teeth.

"Just a quick run into town," Sonic revealed as he walked over to the front door. "Be back in a sec, Ames!" he shouted in a totally cheerful sounding voice before opening the door and dashing away.

_I've been chasing that Sonic for years until we finally got married a year ago, and I thought that nothing would make me happier than to finally be his wife,_ Amy thought to herself as she stared at the open door. _But now, there are times when I wonder why on Mobius I ever got so obsessed over him in the first place!_ Amy sighed softly as she let her building rage go and returned to loading the dishwasher. _Tails deserves much better than some prostitute off the streets, and, if Sonic won't see that, then I guess I'll just have to make sure that she knows that she's not welcome here myself._

* * *

"OK, how about that one way out there," Mystique said as she pointed to an object near the horizon which was leaving a small contrail in the skies it flew through.

"Hmmm… If I had my binoculars, I could probably get a better look, but I'd guess that it's a DC10 passenger aircraft," Tails responded as he squinted at the small, far away image and rubbed a hand on his chin while he searched his memory. "They're kinda older planes, hence the way it seems a bit larger than it should be by its jet exhaust, but they are also pretty reliable provided that they get proper maintenance."

"That's amazing!" Mystique spoke up in amused shock after she was sure that Tails was finished with his explanation. "How can you identify a plane from so far away like that? I at least need to be close to a plant in order to identify them!"

"Well, maybe planes are a little easier to tell apart than plants are?" Tails offered as he tried not to make his own talent sound any better than hers. "Besides, there's probably lots more different kinds of plants than there are planes, right?"

"I would imagine," Mysty agreed as she shifted her eyes from the blue skies above them to glance at Tails while they sat together on a grassy hillside near the wooded hill which Tails' house was located on. Tails didn't notice her gaze at first as Mystique once again seemed to stare at his body as if trying to memorize every detail of it, especially the dual tails which were now waving slowly and happily behind the contented male fox. "Umm… Tails?" she broke the short silence with her tentative voice.

"What is it, Mysty?" Tails quickly asked in a caring response which was all but automatic for the yellow kit.

"Well, Ummm… I was wondering if you would tell me more about your parents. If it doesn't bother you too much, that is," Mysty requested.

"It used to a long time ago, but that was before I found out who they were and how much they cared for me," Tails began. "My mother was a really nice woman named Elisa that cared about me a lot, and my dad, Keylow, was a famous inventor and a guy who worked hard to help everyone live better lives all across Mobius."

"That sounds perfect," Mysty replied in a slightly distance voice as she remained completely attentive to his story. "So, what happened?"

"These," Tails said in a somewhat sadder tone as he motioned with his tails to bring them between him and Mysty to clarify what he was referring to. "My dad 'volunteered' for an experiment that was supposed to make Mobians faster, smarter, and stronger so he could help more people, but it was a trap. He ended up being injected with some really horrible virus that caused his body to actually mutate and ended up giving him two tails. He did get stronger and smarter, too, but the scientist running the experiment also made it where his body would now produce its own neurotoxin that would eventually kill my dad and the other Mobians who also volunteered if they ever tried to disobey or escape."

"That's just… awful," Mystique remarked as she began to regret making Tails go through all this again just for her own curiosity. She felt like she needed to know this information, though, so she never told Tails that he could stop if he wanted to and let him continue on with the story as far as he would go.

"Yeah, it was pretty cruel, especially when the government tried to take over the scientist's research to use as a way to create genetically enhanced Mobian soldiers that would be forced to obey or be killed without the doses of anti-vemon that kept them alive," Tails explained the next crucial development in his father's tragic story. "Luckily, the scientist who is responsible for giving my dad his mutations didn't like the government stealing his work, so he deleted everything and sent all the surviving Mobian test subjects back home."

"But, wouldn't your dad have died without the anti-venom then?" Mysty perceptively pointed out.

"Eventually he did, but my dad was so smart that he was still able to find a way to keep himself alive for almost another whole year," Tails quickly clarified. "When he got home, though, he told my mom what had happened to him and that any kids they would have now might end up just like him. My mom still convinced him to have a child, though, I guess, and several months later came me."

"I don't understand, though," Mysty thought about what Tails had just said and about the fact that he still had two tails like his father. "You have two tails like your father did, so how come you didn't get the neurotoxins, too?"

"Well, first off, Mysty, my dad didn't have neurotoxins because of the virus," Tails tried to explain clearly the very confusing truth. "The virus mutated his body so that **it** created the neurotoxins by itself. And secondly, I **did** get the gene that made my body produce those neurotoxins from my dad as well as this second tail and my super intelligence," Tails hoped that Mysty had been able to keep up with the detailed and somewhat shocking explanation. He soon discovered, however, that he didn't need to be concerned as Mystique's next response proved that the female fox was very quick on the uptake.

"Then, if your father gave you the gene which made your body produce neurotoxins like the ones which he had, how come you're still alive?" Mysty quickly inquired, now trapped in a complete feeling of curiosity with no abandon for how her questions were worded.

Tails wasn't afraid to talk about this either, luckily, as he took Mysty's question without any mistaken offense. "My dad managed to create a gene blocker which kept those genes which made the toxin from being activated. He's the only reason that I'm still alive right now," Tails concluded.

"What finally happened to them?" Mystique again fired off the immediate question as she only seemed to get more and more interested in the discussion the longer it went on. This question, however, touched lightly on a more sensitive nerve for Tails as the yellow fox noticeably winced slightly at her mentioning of his parents' fates. Mysty noticed Tails sudden change in demeanor and quickly scolded herself mentally for not being sensitive about such a delicate topic. "I'm sorry, I probably didn't have a right to…" she began to apologize quickly.

"No, it's fine," Tails stopped her apology in progress as he wiped a single tear that had been forming in one of his eyes away with his gloved hand. "Like I said, my dad died pretty soon after I was born from his own neurotoxins. Just barely a week later, I'm told. My mom, though… She didn't even last that long," Tails tried his best to keep his composure despite the sorrowful topic. However, as he continued on further, Tails noticed his voice cracking in a few places and more tears welling up in his eyes which he immediately averted from Mysty's. "My mom died just hours after giving birth to me. I think the official report from the doctors was that my mutant physiology, that fact that I was a freak at birth, caused complications during the delivery that she just couldn't survive."

"So, you were an orphan at birth?" Mystique couldn't help but ask further.

"Pretty much," Tails responded, now fighting back a light stream of tears which flowed from his eyes and into his white gloves which covered them from sight. "I lived in a foster home for a couple years, but then my foster parents died. And, since no one else wanted to adopt a freak like me, I was left to fend for myself most of my life. The best thing that ever happened to me was when I met Sonic one day, and he took me in as his little brother. Before that, well, my life wasn't really worth living," Tails finished as he concentrated on the happy conclusion of his story to stop the tears from falling from his eyes again. No matter how many times he thought about or told that story, it never failed to make him cry. Tails hated that he was so weak that he couldn't keep from getting emotional at it and almost wished every day that he could be less emotionally sensitive like Sonic.

Mysty gazed at Tails with her mouth slightly agape as the male fox slowly stopped crying. She actually had to work to keep a few of her own tears in check after hearing the sorrowful tale he had just told her. She honestly couldn't believe it. Here was actually someone else who had a sad tale to tell that was every bit as horrible, if not slightly more so, than her own. How Tails had managed to continue on and even be comfortable telling anyone this story shocked her completely, though. She couldn't even begin to tell anyone her own story without completely breaking down first. Quickly she realized that Tails, having already been forced to bear his soul, might now turn the tables to ask her the same favor. Luckily enough for her, Tails didn't feel much like sitting and talking anymore as he stood up to stretch.

"Maybe we should go back and see what Sonic and Amy are up to now," Tails didn't ask but more like gently told Mysty. Swiftly, she complied as she felt much more at ease again as the fact that Tails wasn't going to ask about her at the moment became more apparent. Together they began a side-by-side trek back to Tails' house following the same path they had used to get to that spot earlier.

* * *

It only took Sonic a few minutes to race from Tails' house to Central City, despite the impressive geographical distance the two were apart. Sonic knew the way very well since most of Eggman's attacks were usually targeted on the city, and he seemed to be almost constantly dashing over to the city to defend its residents from Eggman's newest robotic creation. Tails accompanied him when he could, but his vulpine sidekick never seemed to stick around after the battle was over for very long, which explained why Tails was less acquainted with the urban landscape then he was. In his mind, Sonic was able to figure out the general neighborhood that Tails must have been passing through when he met Mystique, and, on a hunch, started a high speed search of the alleyways around that sector of the city. It didn't take him too awfully long to find what, or rather who, he was searching for.

"Looks like someone tried to give you a nose job," Sonic snidely greeted a large hound walking slowly down a vacant alley with a giant mass of gauze wrapped around his now incredibly prominent nose.

The dog growled menacingly as it turned around to face his mocker. Seeing Sonic the hedgehog standing at the end of the alley, however, caused the still larger hound to immediately act slightly more civil. "What's 'Mobius's great hero' doing around here?" he coldly asked as he made it known to Sonic that he wasn't the type for random small talk.

"I'm lookin' for information," Sonic replied as he strode confidently up to the tough acting, leather-clad hound.

"Then I suggest you find a phone book 'cause I don't know anything that you'd want to know about," the dog tried to dismiss the blue hedgehog. Any other Mobian would have probably asked for his autograph or at least been thrilled to have the legendary Sonic the hedgehog talk to them personally, but Sonic represented justice and the law, things which this thug clearly didn't respect or idolize much at all.

"No, you're the one with the information I need, buddy," Sonic adopted a more stern, no nonsense tone as he stared down the canine thug, a very difficult feat given that the hound almost stood one and a half times the height of the blue hedgehog. "I'm lookin' for a fox. Kinda orange fur, cream shaded belly, and one really big tail. I was told that you had seen her last," Sonic gave his description of Mystique as well as his reason for confronting the wounded mobster.

"What's the great Sonic the hedgehog asking me about that stupid b**** for, anyways?" the hound immediately asked as he was noticeably thrown by Sonic's request. "Thought that you and Hot Pink got together about a year ago. What's the matter, she not good enough in bed?" the dog inferred Sonic's wife, Amy.

Sonic was never known for having a highly controlled temper, and this dog's smile coupled with the unspeakably rude attack on his wife's integrity got Sonic right to his breaking point in an instant. "Answer my question, buddy, or I'll slice that horrible nose job right off your face!" Sonic almost growled as his hands formed tight fists on either side of his tense body.

Wisely deciding not to pick a fight with the legendary Sonic the hedgehog, the leather toting canine quickly backed down as he became suddenly much more complacent. "OK, OK! I don't care what you do with the little fuzz-ball! She never was worth all the trouble, anyway. If you're looking for a nice ride, though, I can tell you right now that there are girls I know of who are much better, and cheaper, too," the hound tried to placate the enraged hedgehog by giving him some of his own insider knowledge.

"I'm not searchin' for a prostitute, 'pal'! I'm lookin' for this fox, and you're gonna tell me everything ya know about her or I'll…" Sonic's anger still coursed through his veins as he grabbed the collar of the dog's black leather jacket and forced the surly thug onto his knees to now rest just below Sonic's eye level.

"Hey, don't hurt me, man! I'll tell you whatever you want, just don't hurt me!" the hound now begged as all his false superiority and macho attitude instantly vaporized upon seeing the look of Sonic's blazing emerald-colored eyes. This was a side of Sonic the hedgehog that hardly no one had ever witnessed, and, to the now terrified hound, the normally heroic and almost divine public view of Sonic the hedgehog was barely recognizable as a match to the now aggressive and almost demonic being holding him now.

Sonic hadn't really lost his temper entirely, though, as he now treaded the fine line in his mind between true rage and the false outward appearance of it in a calculated attempt to get the uncooperative and unreliable canine to tell him the whole truth without a long and unpleasant conversation beforehand. "Good, now tell me everything ya know about Mysty!" Sonic demanded one final time.

"OK, OK! I don't really know much about her except that she lives on the streets around here and that she's a hoe," the scared dog quickly spilled the beans. "Just yesterday I found her in an alley a few blocks away and gave her some money to put out, but she refused and tried to run off with my cash! Then, some freak with two tails comes flying in and causes trouble. The little twerp is also the reason I got this!" the dog recounted his version of what happened yesterday while gesturing to his heavily bandaged nose. He probably no doubt believed that Sonic would see this as two thieves like he did and might actually help him get even with the fox duo.

"Any idea who the fox with two tails was?" Sonic asked as a test while he kept his voice even to prevent giving the unbelievably dense hound any hints.

"Not a clue, but this freak could spin these two tails of his fast enough to actually fly when he…" the dog suddenly cut off entirely as his pupils instantly grew to fill his small, beady eyes to show the dawning of realization in his mind. "Aww, F***!" the hound managed to shout before Sonic's foot came up and smashed into his face, breaking his nose even further as the blue hedgehog released the writhing canine to fall backwards to the alley street below. Too late had the leather-adorning dog finally made the connection between Tails and his role as Sonic's famous partner and friend. And, after already insulting Sonic's wife earlier, his choice of words to describe Tails had finally pushed the hedgehog over the edge.

Sonic stood back from the prone form of the dog as the former tough guy now whimpered in agony at having all the shattered bones in his nose now further pulverized by Sonic's swift kick. He slowly released both of his clenched fists as he stood for almost a minute over the crying hound. His rage now gone, Sonic was slightly horrified by what he had just done. He had only wanted information from the dog at first, but now Sonic realized that he still felt vindicated to have avenged Amy, Tails, and even Mysty in this way. This feeling of satisfaction and pride was what truly frightened Sonic. Such remorseless thoughts could only be classified in his mind as hatred and pure evil, making Sonic now feel tainted somehow with its presence. _Even if he deserved it, I just went way too far with this one,_ Sonic realized as he noticed that the figure of the dog lying on the pavement of the alley was now completely out cold, no doubt from the sheer pain of his crippling injury. Unsure of what else to do for the unconscious Mobian which was far too large for Sonic to effectively lift, the super speedy hedgehog finally made a quick beeline for the edge of town and the Mystic Ruins, remembering to stop along the way and tell an officer to send a unit out for a suspicious person injured and unconscious in a nearby alley.


	4. Chapter 4: Bearer of Bad News

Incest

Disclaimer: After all this so far, do I really need to mention that I don't own anything Sonic and that they are property of Sonic Team and Sega? I didn't think so.

Whew, well it's here at long last! Sorry for the super long pause in updating chapters recently. I could give a hundred good and not so good excuses to you why I've been away from writing so long, but suffice it to say that I'm trying earnestly to get back into the more rapid updates in the near future. (college willing, of course.) I have found that the long wait has pried a few of you anonymous dedicated readers out to announce yourselves by reviewing finally, though, so maybe I'll start making these long waits a habit instead... XD No, but seriously, thanks to everyone for reviewing so far, even if it was so long ago that I've probably forgotten about it!

Regardless, your long wait is being rewarded by an equally long chapter this time, the longest I'll probably ever care to make ever again as well since it was a pain to edit and review due to it's length. So, prepare to spend a long time enjoying this next extensive installment, and I hope to hear from you readers even more now that I've finally returned!

Chapter 4: Bearer of Bad News

_Gee, I know that Ella taught me how to cook, but I never thought that she would also make me a compulsive cleaner, _Amy thought as she used a feather duster to wipe away years of collected dust from a tabletop which had, up until a moment ago, been nearly completely covered in random pieces of paper, books, and the odd, random mechanical doohickey. It appeared that after she had finished with the dishes earlier, Amy grew somewhat impatient just waiting on her blue mate and decided to give Tails' living room a much needed cleaning. She was rather surprised herself at just how thorough she had ended up being, though, as Amy now wondered how Tails would react to the unrequested maid service. She didn't have too long to ponder the male fox's reaction, however, as Sonic then unexpectedly dashed back into the house unannounced like always.

"So, did ya find the proof that was so important to you?" Amy immediately addressed him as she forgot completely about her cleaning and went over to meet Sonic by the front door.

"Yeah…" was the only word to escape Sonic's mouth as he slowly raised his eyes to meet Amy's in a look that betrayed a small degree of disappointment at his findings.

"Well, why'd ya go all the way to the city, though, Sonic? What did you need to do there to get your proof?" Amy kept up her interrogation, eager to know as many details as she could about anything Mysty-related.

"I just had to bend a few noses," Sonic quickly explained as he noticed his balled up fists still and quickly made the conscious effort to release them and relax. _I never thought that just one small-time thug could make me fell so mad, _Sonic thought to himself as he recalled the canine bully that he had injured minutes ago. _Or maybe it's just what I did to him that's makin' me feel so frustrated… I mean, I really lost it back there, didn't I?_

Amy noticed that Sonic seemed lost in his own thoughts, but she had no possible way of knowing just how accurate Sonic's last sentence was to the actual course of events that led the hedgehog to his discovery minutes ago. Finally, although she was hardly in the need for convincing proof when Amy was already convinced from earlier clues about the truth of Mysty and her 'job', Amy asked Sonic to spill the beans. "Well then, what did you find out, Sherlock?" she questioned him in her usual, tactful way.

Sonic let out a heavy sigh before he responded. "You were right, Ames. Mysty really is a prostitute with no home," Sonic admitted to himself as well as her.

"See, now you believe me!" Amy triumphantly exclaimed as she was convinced that Sonic had finally just seen the light. "I told you, Sonic, nothing good ever comes from those back alley dumps!"

"Hold up just a sec, Ames," Sonic calmly interrupted the pink hedgehog as he felt like sticking up for the absent vixen that was now suddenly on trial here. "Just 'cause Mysty's from the wrong side of town doesn't make her a bad person! She certainly seems nice to me. I even got the feelin' that she doesn't really like bein' a prostitute anyway."

"OK, fine," Amy acquiesced on this one point. "I have to admit that she doesn't seem half bad for a homeless bum, but do you really think that this is the kind of girl you want to let influence Tails?!"

"Well, I… Umm… Gee, Amy, I don't know what…" Sonic tried to come up with the best solution but was unable to fit everything together perfectly in his mind as he saw innumerable different possibilities that could result from either interfering between Tails and Mysty or not.

"Well then, just trust me, Sonic. As a woman, I tend to know more about how to handle these kinds of things than you do," Amy tried to convince Sonic by offering reassurance. "I think that letting Mysty stay here with Tails is a bad idea, and I think that you need to tell him that when he comes home."

"Wait, why me?!" Sonic jumped slightly as he pointed towards himself as if to clarify who he was referring to.

"Sonic, you're a guy and Tails' best friend; he'll listen to you! If I were to try and warn him, he'd probably just ignore me," Amy truthfully admitted. "Besides, you know that if you really care for him then you'll do what's best," Amy then assaulted Sonic's guilt in a ploy that almost never failed to bend the hedgehog to her will.

"Ugh... I guess you're right, Amy," Sonic gave in. "Tails and Mysty should actually be back anytime now. I saw them walkin' back as I ran up here a few seconds ago."

"Good, when those two get here, you can tell Tails to put her back in his plane and take her right back to…" Amy began to instruct Sonic until the blue hedgehog finally caught on to Amy's manipulation.

"Whooooaa No! Hold up there, Ames! That ain't gonna happen, and you know it," Sonic loudly objected.

Amy seemed momentarily shocked by Sonic's sudden refusal. "But, I thought that we agreed…" the pink hedgehog tried to figure out the reason for her husband's rapid change of heart.

"We **agreed**that Mysty couldn't stay here with Tails, not that she had to leave entirely," Sonic said as he crossed his arms and tilted his head with eyes firmly closed in a direction away from Amy in defiance. "When he gets back, I'll take Tails out for a little talk, and I'm gonna tell him everything I've already told you. Then, I'm gonna let him decide what to do with Mysty since she's still **his** guest."

"But why?! Wouldn't it just be easier to get rid of that prost…" Amy started to argue, about to express her fear that the vixen might be already influencing or brainwashing the fox to not want her to leave, before Sonic shot one of his eyes open to glare right at Amy in his version of a death stare. Although a stranger would have been puzzled by Sonic's subtle gesture, Amy knew him well enough to know that this particular look meant that the recipient needed to hush and soon.

"Mysty may not have the most preferred job in the world, Ames, but I still don't think that she's a bad person. Tails knows that she needs a friend, and I'm not gonna be the one to tell him that he has to just dump her back in the alley again," Sonic resolved. "But, I do agree that having Mysty stay here with him is a bad idea. I don't think anything wrong might happen, but my bro isn't used to sharin' his house with a girl anyways, which means Tails might not feel too comfortable havin' her here after a while. So, I say we let Mysty stay at our house for the time being," Sonic proposed.

"No way!" Amy immediately objected. "That's still MY house, Sonic Hedgehog, and I don't want that street trash living anywhere near it! Besides, your little roof demolition project yesterday probably turned the guest bedroom into an indoor swimming pool after last night's storm!"

Sonic let out a suppressed sigh at Amy's refusal. As much as he wanted to call Amy out for her almost senseless bigotry against Mysty, she had raised a good point in that they simply didn't have a spare room or bed at the time to offer a guest. "OK, fine, Ames, but do you have any other ideas of where she can stay for now?" Sonic sought her advice since he knew that this was much more her department than his.

"Other than back in the city where Tails found her?" Amy snidely remarked, only to get another glare from Sonic for her troubles. "OK, OK, fine! Hmmm… How about Big's?"

"Big?! Amy, look, I really need ya to be serious here…" Sonic began to scold the pink hedgehog, thinking that she was still senselessly opposing Mysty's presence by suggesting the most ridiculous housing arrangements for her that she possibly could.

"I am serious, Sonic," Amy genuinely replied. "Big might not be the smartest guy I know, but he's definitely the absolute sweetest, nicest, most gentle creature I ever met! I know Mysty would be safe with him, and he lives deeper in the forest close to Tails already if you still want those two to be able to see each other."

"Yeah, Amy, but Big is clueless most of the times, so he might probably upset her by accident," Sonic amended as he shook his head in refusal at the practical, but unusual, idea. "Besides, Ames, Big lives deep in the forest where it almost turns to a swamp and all he has is a small, one-room hut. I don't think that it would be a very nice place for Mysty to have ta stay if ya ask me," Sonic gave his opinion.

"OK, well fine then!" Amy gave in as she realized that Sonic probably wouldn't change his mind on the matter. "But if Big's house isn't a good place for Mysty to stay and she can't live with us or Tails either, then where will she live?" Amy said as she secretly hoped that the lack of places for Mysty to stay might force Sonic to reconsider having Tails send her away after all.

"Well…, what about Vanilla and Cream's house?" Sonic eventually proposed. "They got a nice place over there with plenty of room, and I bet Mrs. Vanilla would be more than happy to give Mysty a home, too," Sonic thought of a few reasons that the arrangement might work.

"Yeah, but what if Mrs. Vanilla won't take her?" Amy asked as she didn't like how Sonic had just assumed that the home filled already by two rabbits and a chao would be accepting of a new, semi-permanent guest.

"C'mon Amy, since when has Mrs. Vanilla **not** been happy to help somebody else that needs a home?" Sonic quickly argued back, knowing that his argument was true enough that it would trump Amy's easily.

By the resulting look on the pink hedgehog's face afterwards, too, it was clear that it indeed had. "OK, fine. She can stay with Cream and her mom… **IF **they approve," Amy gave in. With that finally settled, though, Amy now needed to ask Sonic something else that bugged her about this whole situation. "What I really want to know, Sonic, is why you care so much about this Mysty person, anyways."

Sonic sighed as he knew that this question finally got to the heart of the matter, and also asked Sonic to answer a question that he didn't fully understand to answer to himself yet, either. "I'm still not sure really why, Ames. But, at the very least, Mysty's in some kind of trouble right now in her life, and I want to help her out just like I know Tails does, too. Still, though, I just can't get over this strange feeling about her and Tails. It's like, whenever I see them together, it just seems… kinda like they belong together somehow, I guess," Sonic admitted. "And the way she acts around him is so strange and different, too. There's just gotta be a connection Amy, and I want to figure out what it is."

Now it was Amy's turn to sigh heavily at Sonic's strange confession. "You think that Tails and her should be a couple," the pink hedgehog bluntly rephrased all of Sonic's rambling into one sentence.

"No! That's not what I meant, Amy, honest! Well, maybe they might get to like each other eventually, but the way she clings to Tails and doesn't feel safe unless he's around… It's just unusual, Ames, ya gotta admit," Sonic quickly corrected Amy's overly direct statement that hadn't truly described what the blue hedgehog felt about the female fox and his little brother.

"Well, why don't cha ask Tails about it on your little talk soon?" Amy suggested in a tone that made it sound like the most obvious suggestion in the world.

Sonic never got to respond to that rhetorical question, however, as that very moment Tails and Mystique came back through the front door from their walk together. Despite the painful memories that the stroll had unexpectedly stirred up for the young fox, Tails seemed to be rather cheerful as he entered the door while still busy telling Mysty about one of his numerous fights against one of Eggman's newest inventions or another. The female fox, on her own part, seemed to at least enjoy the things Tails was talking about right now and looked unusually relaxed as she even laughed a bit when Tails described in short how Eggman had managed to make a fool of himself before he was beaten once again. Then, both noticing Sonic and Amy already sitting together on the living room sofa, Tails and Mysty abruptly halted their conversation to greet the hedgehog couple.

"Oh, heya, Sonic and Amy! I didn't know that you guys would still be around this long," Tails greeted the couple as he also made known his curiosity of them still being at his home, too.

"Well, thanks to Sonic, our house probably will take a long time to dry out after that storm last night coming through with half our roof missing!" Amy quickly brought up as she gave Sonic a quick glare of annoyance to show that she was still going to get him for that mistake later.

"Yeah, I guess there's really no rush then, right Ames?" Sonic playfully remarked as he smiled at Amy sheepishly, which only elicited an exasperated sigh from the pink hedgehog on how her unorthodox husband seemed to be able to pass anything off as a joke.

"Would you like me and Mysty to come help you guys clean up?" Tails asked the two hedgehogs as he just now noticed that someone had obviously taken it upon themselves to clean his home while he was away, too.

"Nah, we've got it, bro!" Sonic declined quickly as he saw it as unfair to put Tails and his new guest into manual labor so soon after just meeting each other.

"You mean **you've** got it, right?" Amy broke in without missing a beat, quickly reminding Sonic that since it was his fault for the no doubt mini indoor flood, he got to clean it all up on his own.

"Sure thi… Hey, wait a 'Buttnik stompin' minute there! I gotta mop up that whole room by myself?!" Sonic complained as this was decidedly not what he had in mind for the rest of his afternoon.

"Maybe, that is, if it didn't leak through into any other parts of the house, too," Amy replied teasingly as she crossed her arms to show that she wasn't just kidding entirely. This, coupled with Sonic's reaction of a loud groan as the blue hedgehog looked up at the roof while raising both hands in a pleading gesture got everyone else in the room giggling loudly, including Mystique who had been characteristically quiet up until now.

"Hey, that's a pretty laugh ya got there, Mysty," Sonic commented as he smiled along with everyone else's laughter. "So, how do ya like it here compared to the city?" he immediately asked to avoid the awkward silence that would have come after the short burst of laughter.

Mysty seemed a little reluctant to respond at first, but she was really beginning to open up to these people by now and saw no harm in just an innocent conversation. "It's very nice here, Mr. Sonic. It's so different then I'm used to, really. Everything is so lively and green, and the people are just as inviting as the beautiful scenery," Mysty answered in the longest continuous chain of words anyone present except for Tails had ever heard her say.

"I'm glad ya like it, Mysty," Sonic approved as he too enjoyed the endless, undeveloped land that stretched out for miles and miles of just nature around this area of Mobius. It was good land for long distance, high speed running; that was for certain.

"Well, you don't have to go back right now if you don't want to," Tails suggested to Mysty as he could tell that the female fox had enjoyed herself quite a bit today and probably didn't want to go back to the city alleys anytime soon either after what had happened to her there just yesterday.

"Huh?" Mystique couldn't hide her audible shock at what Tails had just offered her. "No, Tails, I couldn't possibly…" she tried to decline as she remained slightly stunned at the male fox's overwhelming generosity.

"But why not? It's not like you have a home or a job to get back to over there, right? So why not stay with us?" Tails asked in an attempt to get Mysty to second guess her almost immediate refusal that he knew was just coming from etiquette and wanting to not sound imposing to others. Actually, if anyone was ever going to understand that exact feeling, it would certainly be Tails since he himself had done the same thing countless times over and over again due to his helpful and caring personality.

Amy and Sonic had fallen suspiciously silent at this point, though, as the pink hedgehog shot a quick glance at the other one, clearly a sign that now would be a great time to have that little chat Sonic had talked about having with the yellow fox concerning Mysty. Sonic caught the signal and sighed before interrupting sooner than Mysty could have enough time to decide how to answer Tails' repeated offer. "Umm… Hey, Tails? Could you and I just have a quick little talk together, bud? I got somethin' I need to say to ya that I really have on my mind, and I don't wanna wait around any longer if you've got a sec," Sonic tried to avoid simply out and saying that he wanted to talk with Tails privately about Mysty, but the blue hedgehog still came out sounding about as blunt and smooth as an unwaxed bowling ball while Amy also let out an almost inaudible sigh of frustration matched by shaking her head slowly in the palms of her hands at Sonic's 'masterful' way of handling the situation.

Tails, however, was either oblivious to the very thinly concealed purpose of Sonic's impromptu private discussion or was simply feigning ignorance as he responded a few seconds later with a puzzled look on his face, "Uhhh… Sure, Sonic, I guess," Tails accepted as he got up to follow the blue hedgehog outside, knowing full well that Sonic preferred to have his most serious talks, however rare, in secluded locations that they both would travel to together via a short sprint which Sonic always claimed set up the right mood for a serious conversation. Without a further word, Sonic then came up alongside Tails in his home's front lawn just outside his door and abruptly took off in a blue streak down a little used trail through the surrounding woods. Tails simply revved up his two long tails in response and quickly rocketed off in pursuit, knowing that Sonic would be going slow to start off because of Tails' slower rate of acceleration and allowing the younger fox to catch up before heading towards their destination.

* * *

It didn't take long for the two to arrive at their unannounced meeting spot together, a ridge where the forest receded into a short plain just before a sheer cliff which overlooked the sea on the other side of the large hill which Tails' home was built on. Tails was rendered completely speechless as he skidded to a quick halt here along with Sonic, not from the absolute beauty of the scenic wonder that Sonic had led him to, but, rather, that Sonic had actually known of this spot's existence in the very first place. "How did…?" Tails started to voice his question before Sonic cut in with the answer already.

"I've seen ya come up here a couple times on your own before, bud, but I guessed that ya probably didn't want me to know about this place since you never told me about it before, though. So, I decided to just keep it a secret that I knew about your special private spot until the next time we had to talk," Sonic interrupted as he had no doubt anticipated Tails' exact question before even leading the fox here. He watched earnestly as his brother's face slowly turned from shock at the revelation to a mixture of annoyance, sadness, and relief at knowing that Sonic had seen him here at his supposedly secret hideaway before. Sonic breathed a quick sigh of relief that Tails didn't actually appear to be very angry at him either, at least for now, as the hedgehog decided to get more to the point. "Anyways, bro, about what I wanted to talk to ya about here…" Sonic began as it was now his turn to get interrupted.

"I know; it's about Mysty, isn't it?" Tails less asked and more simply stated the truth as he noticed that Sonic seemed momentarily stunned at the fox's easy, correct guess.

"Guess I wasn't very subtle, then, was I?" Sonic responded a few seconds later as his body language changed to that of an embarrassed 'Oops'.

"About as much as one of Eggman's robots in a city filled with people screaming," Tails shot back as Sonic played along by wincing at how bad that really was in terms of trying not to attract attention.

"Well, you know me, bro; I never was good at this stuff," Sonic gave his own defense as he saw Tails also nod his head in agreement along with his own. "Still, though, bud, I really gotta know how you feel about Mysty so far," Sonic started what he saw as the most important part of the conversation.

"Why would that be so important to you, Sonic?" Tails immediately asked, wondering why the hedgehog thought it was such a key issue all the sudden.

"Well… Don't get me wrong here, bro, but ya do already seem to spend a lot of time with her, you know. Plus, ya gotta admit that she's a pretty nice looking fox, too…" Sonic tried to hint at what he wanted to know from his little brother the most about how he felt towards Mystique.

"She's only a friend, Sonic," Tails quickly responded in a changed tone that practically dared Sonic to make that inference out loud again but yet managed to narrowly avoid sounding openly hostile towards him, either.

"OK, bud, I believe ya," Sonic gave in quickly as he caught the sudden edge in Tails' voice, wondering what made the mention of a possible relationship between him and Mysty enough to make Tails suddenly so defensive. "Either way though, bro, I think that it might be best if Mysty didn't stay with you in your house anymore alone," Sonic brought up his and Amy's decision.

In response to Sonic's quick request, Tails quickly gave the concerned hedgehog a look of confusion. "What makes you say that, Sonic?" the fox asked as he had never sensed any real reason why Mysty staying with him would be a problem before.

"Well, bud, it's not like I don't trust ya or anything, but me an' Ames just don't like the idea of Mysty stayin' over here with just you two alone," Sonic told the befuddled fox the straight truth.

"But, I still don't get why, then, Sonic," responded Tails, still just as confused as before since the fox clearly wanted to know Sonic's reasoning for such concern. "I mean, Mysty doesn't seem to really be comfortable around anyone but me, so why shouldn't she stay in my house? It's not like I don't have enough room or anything," Tails countered Sonic's apprehension with his view of how he saw the situation as of now.

Sonic gave a sigh as Tails' clear logic once again forced to hedgehog to play **all** his cards if he was to have any chance of potentially saving the fox from himself as the hedgehog still saw it. "It's just… Well, we don't want you to be tempted by her bein' around or anything when no one else is there," Sonic tried to delicately approach the full reason for his and Amy's shared concern.

"Tempted? What do you mean by…" the fox started to ask before he stopped himself short. Then, Tails' expression immediately changed to shock as even the morally innocent fox finally understood what Sonic was getting at this whole time. "What?! How could you even think that, Sonic?! You know I'm not like that! I'm not even really sure if I'm old enough yet to actually be able to, you know…" Tails shouted as Sonic's accusation stung the fox greatly. He still didn't want to say the dirty three letter word, however, and his shouting petered off as he thought of a good way to continue his explanation without being too vulgar.

"Whoa, Tails! You can stop right there, buddy; I got 'cha, OK?" Sonic tried to calm the fox down, fearing that he might be about to run off on him in anger if the situation got any more heated. "Besides, like I already told ya, bro; I trust you completely! It's just, me an' Ames know that you've never lived with a woman before, and sometimes girls can be kind of persuasive, you know? Especially ones like her, too, bud."

Tails immediately opened his mouth in intentions of yelling back at Sonic that this proved he obviously didn't trust him **completely** until the young fox suddenly registered all of Sonic's last statement. "Wait a second, Sonic! What do you mean 'girls like her'?" Tails instead asked as his voice seemed almost protective of the absent vixen.

Sonic immediately closed his mouth, canceling already what he was going to say as his eyes wandered as best they could away from Tails' withering stare. "Well, I guess ya should know, bud. The reason you found Mysty like that back in town yesterday wasn't because she was bein' attacked, or, at least, that wasn't the whole story," Sonic paused long enough to look back at Tails and sigh at being forced to reveal the shameful secret about Mysty. "I'm not sure you'll actually get this, bro, but Mysty is a…"

"A prostitute. So what?" Tails quickly responded, somehow guessing the very words from Sonic's mouth and speaking them as if they meant little to nothing in the young kit's mind even though he clearly understood what that profession meant by his response.

Sonic's eyes now almost bugged out of his head as the hedgehog stared at Tails in disbelief. "How did you learn about that, bro?! Why do you even know what a prostitute is?!" Sonic incredulously asked as he had never really expected Tails to understand or have any prior knowledge of such a dirty and taboo profession.

"I told you, Sonic; I'm not just a little kit anymore. I've actually been living on my own for almost a year or more now, and I've taken care of myself long before that, too. You don't think that I wouldn't know how the world actually works by now, would you?" Tails asked in a subdued and only semi-curious voice. He didn't really expect an answer to the question, however, as he simply wanted to gently remind Sonic that the kit wasn't just his clueless little tag-along anymore.

Despite having known this long ago and actually starting to come to terms with Tails' growing up now, Sonic still seemed shocked at how close the fox really seemed from adulthood now. "Sorry, little bro, I guess I just forgot that you're pretty smart on a lot of things," Sonic apologized although he sincerely wished that he knew where Tails' knowledge of such things as prostitution was coming from.

"Well, I guess I can't blame you for being surprised too much, though. I probably wouldn't expect my younger brother to know what prostitution is if they were still my age and I was yours," Tails let Sonic off the hook as he knew that this was only a case of Sonic acting in the kit's best interest, which Tails was always happy for since he never really had any parents to do it for him anyways. However, Tails felt that after all this time he should have clearly demonstrated more of the right to do his own things other than just inventing machines and all, so the fox again stuck up for Mystique. "But, Sonic, just because she may be a prostitute or whatever doesn't make her a bad person," Tails tried to argue his point to the hedgehog.

"I know that, bro! But still…" Sonic started to give his position again, although it was rapidly becoming apparent that the hedgehog himself was struggling to find good ways to counter Tails' arguments.

"Still what, Sonic?" Tails didn't even give the blue blur time to fully think as the young kitsune already had it figured out anyways. "You've seen the way she is around guys. Mysty can barely keep from running in fright if anyone pretty much comes near her. Besides, I don't really think that she likes being a prostitute either," Tails hypothesized as he pointed out the facts to the concerned hedgehog present.

"Well, I feel the same way, too, bro, actually. But, my only problem then is, well, why's she do it if she hates it, bro?" Sonic asked Tails as if the fact of her occupation was simply something that could not be overlooked.

"Probably for the money, Sonic," Tails answered as his face noticeably sagged upon explaining such a sad but possible reason. "She was talking about eating trash from a dumpster behind a restaurant earlier, remember? So, I bet she doesn't even have enough money for food. The only way I think she can even survive is, well…"

"You know, I hadn't thought of that. I bet you're right, bud," Sonic suddenly chimed in to save the fox from describing something next that would be rather hard to think about. Based on the huge change in the hedgehog's voice this time, Tails could see that Sonic had been genuinely convinced based on Tails' trust in Mysty and the hedgehog's own intuition that the vixen was simply a poor individual stuck with the horrible decision to do something unmentionable for a living or just die from starvation. "But, still, for me and Amy's sake, do ya think maybe Mysty could go live with the Rabbits, at least for now?" Sonic asked one last time, knowing that Amy would likely kill him and hang his cobalt fur pelt on her mantle if he ended up allowing Mysty to stay with Tails alone now just after they had talked together without the pink hedgehog's presence or consent.

"You still don't trust me or her?!" Tails said in true surprise as he wondered if the whole discussion he had just had with Sonic was for nothing as he had honestly felt like Sonic was starting to understand a second ago.

"No, little bro, that's not what I mean! I think you're right and that Mysty really is just someone who really needs some help and not just tryin' to take advantage of you, and you know that I never once doubted ya from the start either, buddy. I'm just trying to look after what's best for ya, bro," Sonic explained quickly as he didn't want Tails getting mad at him all over again.

"By making all my choices for me?! Or was that Amy's idea? And what about Mysty, too, huh, Sonic? Shouldn't she get a say in all this since it's her new home we're talking about now?!" Tails rudely called back in a louder tone. Clearly the kit knew that Sonic's other pink half was heavily involved in this whole affair as Tails could always tell whether or not Amy was pressuring him into doing something or if it was Sonic's own genuine concern.

"OK, so Ames thinks Mysty might not be such a great person yet. Just give her some time, will ya? And I'll even wait until you ask Mysty before we make things final, OK? Come on, bro, you know I'm only doin' all this because I really care about ya," Sonic calmly spoke in sharp contrast to Tails' resurging anger. "I know that you're still uncomfortable around girls, so I don't want ya feelin' out of place in your own home with Mysty there. Besides, we both know what tomorrow is," Sonic then reasoned as his voice became uncharacteristically sensitive for the blue hero.

Tails looked up into Sonic's eyes in a slight shock at this last statement. It was true. Sonic really did have his best interests in mind the whole time, especially by remembering tomorrow and how the yellow fox would feel about having a guest resident on such an important day. Nodding slowly, Tails finally acquiesced. "OK, Sonic. I guess she probably should stay with Mrs. Vanilla and Cream then. She'll probably feel even safer living around other girls, too," Tails finally understood and approved the idea for a good many practical reasons.

"I thought you'd say that eventually," Sonic said with a quick grin at having that all settled. "Don't worry 'bout it too much anyways, little bro. It's not like you can't see her all the time still or that she can't come here to see you, just that it's better you two weren't sleeping alone in the same house at nights," Sonic also clarified, making sure that Tails knew Mysty wasn't going to be taken away where the two couldn't still spend all day together if they wanted to like they had so far today.

Tails made no answer though as a simple nod of the fox's head served to notify the hedgehog that the vulpine already understood all that. After a second where there were no words or movements from either of the two, Tails finally spoke to break the silence. "So, when do we take Mysty over to meet Cream and Mrs. Vanilla?" he asked for the sake of knowing.

"Well, probably whenever you and Mysty feel like it, bud," Sonic answered simply. "Me an' Ames are most likely headin' back home as soon as we get back, so it'll be up to you to take her over when you're ready, I suppose."

"OK, that sounds like a plan," Tails agreed as the slight melancholy appearance the fox had kept ever since the mention of tomorrow finally seemed to gradually fade and the young fox became once again his usual, joyous self. With a quick grin to match Sonic's own, both stood there only a second longer before dashing off back for Tails' house once more, not a word needed to be shared between the two to pull off this tandem maneuver flawlessly.

* * *

The rest of that day went by unbelievably fast, it seemed. As soon as Sonic and Tails returned to find Amy and Mystique still sitting just as they had left them, albeit with Mysty seeming a little nervous at being left alone with the pink hedgehog, both hedgehogs excused themselves to return to their own home. Tails had once again offered to assist them in cleaning up after Sonic's accident and the storm last night, but this time Amy was the one who denied the help by reminding Tails that she was going to make Sonic take care of it all since it was his fault anyways. This caused Tails and Mysty to laugh again as they watched Amy drag a humorously stunned and pleading Sonic down the path leading away from Tails' house into the small woods surrounding the hill.

After they had finally gone, Tails decided to give Mysty a better tour of his home and workshop since he hadn't been able to do so earlier. Mysty seemed to be increasingly shocked as well at everything Tails had managed to mostly create himself in just less than a decade or so of meeting Sonic and living here. She couldn't help but ask about all his different creations as he presented them to her briefly. From a host of random gadgets that, for the most part, Tails had never really finished, to things like the super complex and high tech X-Tornado, Mysty seemed intrigued by it all. It was probably understandable, though, seeing as how it was quite possible that the most technologically advanced item Mystique herself had ever touched was probably a discarded cell phone.

"How could you design and build all these things just on your own?" Mysty asked in disbelief as she now gently touched one hand to the X-Tornado's nose cone as if fearing that any pressure whatsoever might cause it to fall apart.

"Well, as far as the X-Tornado goes, I actually had a lot of help while making it from my good friend, Chuck," Tails answered as he briefly recalled the all-nighter the two had pulled together in designing and building the multi-purpose fighter plane from the original Tornado biplane and other parts Chuck happened to have as well in order to counter Eggman's newest robotic menace in the outer reaches of the atmosphere near space.

"Was he also from the… other dimension?" Mysty asked, understandably skeptical of Earth's existence like any other rational Mobian would naturally be.

"Yeah… I kind of miss him, too, sometimes," Tails thought out loud as his eyes grew distant, no doubt reliving his experiences with the elderly scientist and friend.

"_It's not your fault, Tails! We just need to make the Tornado more powerful," the familiar scientist cheered Tails up after his prized biplane had failed to chase Eggman's newest creation into space._

…

_Tails sat up on the sofa someone had placed him on to rest. Feeling his aching and bandaged forehead, Tails asked, "What happened?"_

"_You were shot down by Eggman, remember, Tails? You managed to crash land the X-Tornado and save everyone before you blacked out," the familiar voice and face greeted him again._

"…"

_He had just recovered from an unexpected faint as he looked up at Chuck's worried face in their secret lab below the Thorndike's mansion. "Don't scare me like that, Tails! I care about you, so don't go doing stupid things that might get you hurt, promise?"_

"… Tails?"

"_I don't care which way you look or how smart you are, Tails, I'll always be your friend," the same man comforted the crying fox._

"Tails?"the voice again ushered from some other realm entirely.

"_Goodbye, Tails. I'll miss you," the teary eyed Chuck said as he hugged the fox one last time in front of a portal of light leading on a one way trip back to Mobius._

"Tails!" the voice finally broke through as the fox immediately snapped out of his mesmerizing trance at the panicky female voice now calling him back to reality. "Are you OK?" Mysty asked with concern and worry clear in her voice.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry! I think I just zoned out there for a while," Tails apologized as he scratched the back of his head in a gesture of awkwardness.

"A lot has happened to you in your life, hasn't it, Tails?" Mysty replied in a voice that was neither entirely curious nor truly sympathetic either. The odd question and the unique tone she had used to say it made Tail's response come unsurely and somewhat fragmented.

"You… I suppose you could say that," Tails answered in a neutral tone as he truthfully wasn't sure how to react to this. Feeling the urge to change the uncomfortable subject to something else, Tails happened to check his watch and discovered the later hour that had seemed to come unexpectedly already. "Umm… It's getting a little late now, Mysty. Do you maybe want to go visit some of my other friends for dinner tonight? It will be much better cooking than I can make, that's for sure," Tails asked, having neglected to tell Mysty about the already agreed upon plans for her to actually live with Mrs. Vanilla and Cream now.

"Are they nice?" Mysty asked as she again seemed to tremble slightly at the thought of more strangers she now had to meet.

Tails, despite his best efforts, couldn't help but laugh at her reaction, though. "Ha ha ha ha! S-sorry, Mysty! But, you won't have anything to worry about from these friends, I promise! Besides, they're all girls anyways. Or, at least I'm not sure about Cheese, though…" Tails attempted to calm the frightened vixen as he slowly regained control over his own laughter. He knew it was inappropriate to laugh at Mystique for being scared, but the thought of someone actually fearing Mrs. Vanilla or even her daughter was just too hilarious for Tails not to laugh.

Mysty, thankfully, didn't seem to take much if any offense at Tails' rudeness as she actually felt more secure after what he had told her. "Really?" she asked, tragically used to cruel jokes like this which would end up being a trap of some sort leading to a room full of rambunctious males instead.

"Of course! You gotta trust me, Mysty. I know that you'll love them, and I'll bet both my tails that they will like you, too," Tails reassured her as he had never before heard of someone that disliked Vanilla, much less anyone which Vanilla didn't like as well.

"Well, OK, then…" Mysty reluctantly agreed at last.

"Great! Let's get going then so they have time to make a little extra for us to eat, too!" Tails replied excitedly as he led Mysty outside again and the two walked back down the woodland path together once more on their way to the Rabbit home not too far off in a large expanse of rolling hills that would be covered in flowers in less than a week now.

* * *

"Mommy! I can't find Cheese's bow tie!" a young voice called down from upstairs in the cozy Rabbit family home.

"Where did you leave it last, sweetie?" an older, more authoritative voice called back from the downstairs kitchen.

"I just took it off to give Cheese a bath a moment ago, so it should be right… AAAHHH!" the younger voice suddenly interrupted itself in a loud scream.

"Cream? What's wrong, honey?" a now worried shout came from the kitchen as the chef currently occupying the room put down her culinary utensils to rush upstairs and check on the younger rabbit if need be.

"No, Cheese, stop! You're still all wet! Don't… AAAHHHH!" Cream's scream echoed downstairs once more without answering her mother's concerned question, or, at least, not directly.

Vanilla smiled and stifled a giggle with one hand while returning to the kitchen and her work, now with the comical image of the little chao, having just finished its bath, making sure Cream got hers too by using the younger bunny for a towel.

"Aww… Now see what you've done, Cheese? I'll have to change clothes now before supper!" Cream could be heard upstairs scolding the rambunctious chao as she no doubt tried to dry them both off now with an actual towel. Cheese didn't seem to be taking the light hearted scolding very seriously, though, as its happy cries from upstairs also showed that the tiny chao knew it wasn't in any real trouble and that Cream was not actually angry either at the little antic. Considering the bond those two shared, many even wondered if it was actually possible for the two to stay mad at each other for more than a second, anyways.

As both rabbits and the naughty chao were thus occupied, Mrs. Vanilla then perked up one of her long drooping ears as the familiar sound of someone knocking came from the front door over the noise of the meal she was currently assembling on the stovetop. "Cream, honey, could you please get the door?" Vanilla then called to her daughter upstairs.

"But, mom! I'm still all wet!" Cream argued back while the young bunny could still be heard plodding downstairs in compliance to her mother's orders anyway.

"I'm sorry, Cream, dear, but unless you want supper to burn…" Vanilla allowed her sentence to fade off after the last word she spoke, knowing that she didn't really need to finish whatever she was saying at that point for Cream to get the message and obey.

Cream only offered a loud sigh as a final objection before the wet bunny walked across the cozy living room to answer the front door right as another short round of knocks were heard from the visitor outside. Trying to quickly smooth down her damp fur so it wouldn't look messy or dry into a tangled mess, Cream finally reached out and opened the door to admit the guests into her home.

"Hiya, Cream!" Tails greeted her happily as he and, much to the young rabbit's surprise, another fox walked into the house. Cream immediately took a brief survey of the new stranger and found that she, since the first thing Cream discovered right away was that it was clearly a girl, was probably exactly Tail's age, maybe only a half inch shorter than him but still taller than her, and had the biggest, bushiest tail Cream had ever seen.

Tails, however, also was a little surprised as he in turn spotted the young bunny's unusually wet new look. "I'm sorry, Cream. Did you just get out of the shower?" Tails instantly asked as he sought an explanation to why the bunny standing in front of him now was dripping water on the short carpet below. Of course, Tails didn't really think this was the case even as he asked, however, seeing as how currently the only way for that theory to make sense was if Cream had showered with her clothes on, since the young rabbit's clothes were also soaked through as well.

"No, I was trying to give Cheese a bath just a minute ago," Cream answered quickly as she blushed ever so slightly at the embarrassment of meeting Tails and a new stranger while soaking wet as she was now.

"It looks more like Cheese gave one to you!" Tails quickly replied with a subdued chuckle in good humor that quickly put Cream back at ease once more. Just then, the little troublemaker itself came floating down the stairs and over to the group standing now just inside the closed door to the Rabbit home.

"Chao!" Cheese quickly greeted the guests happily as it smiled widely and flew up in excited circles around Tails' head to show its enthusiasm for the well known fox's visit.

"Heh heh! Hello to you too, Cheese," Tails quickly returned the greetings as the energetic chao finally stopped and floated just in front of him while still smiling widely. Tails couldn't resist reaching out with one hand and stroking the little chao's white belly playfully, eliciting another burst of excitement from Cheese as it flew in a ring around Tails' head as if to give him a halo just like his own. It was awkward, to be truthful, for Tails to get used to the chao he always knew and remembered floating next to Cream constantly looking so differently now, but Tails also understood just how it was a natural part of the life cycle for a chao to change like this every once in a while as it gets older. It hadn't been any more over a few months yet since Cheese had shocked everyone by transforming overnight into a 'hero' chao as this new form was supposingly called, but, in retrospect, nobody was too awfully surprised either as everyone knew that Cream's innocent little companion wouldn't have ever turned into anything less anyways. Tails did finally notice something out of place on the little chao though and instantly brought it to Cream's attention. "Oh, hey! Where's Cheese's bow tie?" Tails asked the chao's partner.

"I'm not sure, actually," Cream responded while giggling at the chao's hyperactive antics and forgetting her damp appearance for a moment. "I took it off for Cheese's bath, and now…" Cream shrugged to show that the bunny had no clue where the trademark red accessory had gone.

Tails was just about to volunteer to help search for the missing article when Mrs. Vanilla finally walked in from the kitchen and greeted her guests. "Oh, Tails! It's good to see you again, honey! And, who is your friend here?" Vanilla extended her usual hospitable greetings.

"Hi, Mrs. Vanilla!" Tails instantly replied back as he also reciprocated Mrs. Vanilla's warm smile in return as well. "This is a new friend of mine from Central City. Her name's Mysty," Tails also introduced the shy vixen who had refused so far to make even so much as a noise in the unfamiliar environment.

"H-hello, ma'am…" Mysty hesitantly spoke at last as she was required to greet her host by the rules of common courtesy.

"Oh, please don't worry about being so formal around here, Mysty. I'm not anyone special or that you should be afraid of," Vanilla quickly addressed the soft spoken female vulpine as she instantly caught the nervousness and fear in Mysty's voice. "I'm not sure if Tails has introduced us to you yet already, but I'm Mrs. Vanilla and this is my daughter, Cream," the older rabbit informed the new stranger as she pointed first to herself and then put a hand gently on the much smaller rabbit's shoulder.

"Chao! Chao chao!" an excited voice suddenly spoke out in protest as it left its rapid orbit above Tails to float over beside Cream's shoulder as well, hovering just between the two rabbits.

"Oh, of course, and Cheese, too," Mrs. Vanilla immediately added as she stifled a short chuckle in her proper feminine manner of moving a hand up to her mouth shortly while the little chao nodded its approval at now having **everyone** properly introduced.

"It's… nice to meet you," Mysty automatically replied as she started to feel more relaxed already with this family of Tails' acquaintances.

"And you too, dear. Will you both be staying for dinner with us?" Vanilla quickly asked as it could never be said that the mother rabbit had ever sent anyone away from her home hungry before.

"Well, if it's not too much of a bother…" Tails began to ask hesitantly, always nervous when he ever came to request something from someone else that they didn't have to necessarily agree to if they didn't want to.

"Oh, nonsense, sweetie! Since when have I ever not been happy to feed you and all of your friends when you visit?" Mrs. Vanilla quickly replied as she then turned to stroll casually back into the kitchen once more to resume her cooking, now also preparing enough food for two more as well.

Tails, Mysty, and Cream all simply made themselves comfortable on the living room sofa to wait now, Cream also making a swift trip upstairs as well to change into something dry before taking a seat next to Mysty on the extremely soft and plush living room couch. "So, what's it like living in the big city?" Cream decided to ask Mysty in hopes of starting up a little conversation to learn more about this new stranger and also pass the time until supper was ready.

Mysty didn't particularly like where this conversation was going already, though, but she knew it would be unbelievably rude not to at least answer the innocent question as well as she finally spoke. "Umm… It's actually pretty hard a lot of the times. It's not as safe there as it is here, I guess," Mysty answered truthfully as she felt comfortable opening up just this little bit to her new friends in the room now.

"Really? I've never really been there much before myself, actually," Cream explained to Mysty the cause of her asking the earlier question. "I mean, I go there sometimes with my mom, but I've never really explored the city or gone anywhere on my own," Cream added as she felt like she needed to clarify what she had meant before a little bit better.

"There's some places there you wouldn't really want to explore," Mysty quickly warned the eager young bunny as well, the thought of such a young and helpless child being caught or molested in some of the same ways she still remembered herself making the female fox more than a little nervous again.

"Yeah, that's why I don't like the big city either," Tails thankfully butted in to break the tension forming once again in Mystique's mind. Tails, however, hadn't just said that to unknowingly relieve Mysty's growing stress as the fox vividly remembered a great many scenes from his own life when he was very young of bullies and thugs chasing him through darkened alleys to steal his tiny bit of money, break his newest little invention, or just to beat him to a pulp for the fun of it. Although those kinds of things never happened to him anymore and hopefully never would again, Tails couldn't help but still keep that lingering unease for the urban lifestyle many like him usually thrived on.

Before the conversation could go any farther or change to another topic, however, Mrs. Vanilla's voice quickly called to the three from the kitchen as they all hurried in to the sit at the table in anticipation of the no doubt delicious meal that the mother rabbit had cooked for them all. Sure enough, no sooner had they all sat down then Mrs. Vanilla crossed the room to the table holding a large pan fresh from the oven with steam still rising temptingly from the contents inside. The wonderful aroma that this steam carried as well made all the hungry young mouths around the table start watering at once as the adult rabbit then sat the large pan of lasagna in the center of the table while motioning for Cream to pass the plates around to everyone as she returned to the stove in order to bring back some seasoned bread sticks and her own special homemade dipping sauce to go with them. "Oh! I love Italian!" Tails spoke in glee as he finally saw the menu for tonight laid on the table in front of them.

Mysty was a little skeptical of the meal, however, since Italian food she knew was synonymous with expensive restaurants that she had never had the opportunity or the money to try before and also were notoriously known in homeless circles for their disgusting looking garbage as well. She gazed unsure at the steaming lasagna in front of her for a while as Mrs. Vanilla graciously served a generous portion of it to her plate for her.

"Mmmm…! Go on, try it, Mysty! It's delicious!" Tails encouraged the tentative vixen as his muzzle itself already had a slight red stain below his bottom lip from his first large bite of the food already.

"Oh…, OK," Mysty responded as she realized how rude it was for her to simply sit there staring at her food in front of her gracious host as well as everyone else too. Deliberately, she picked up her fork and cut off a small section of the roughly square block of lasagna Mrs. Vanilla had served her and quickly brought it up to her mouth to taste. At first as she chewed the bite, Mysty was overwhelmed and a bit revolted by the myriad of flavors and textures she encountered from only the small sampling, but quickly she began recognizing a few familiar tastes along with the unfamiliar ones and found that it was indeed delicious just as Tails had said.

"Well, dear?" Mrs. Vanilla asked Mysty in curiosity as the female fox finally swallowed her first bite of the Italian style dinner.

"It's… wonderful!" Mysty exclaimed as she eagerly stabbed her fork back into the pasta on her plate for another, this time larger, bite.

"Well, I'm glad you like it, dear," Mrs. Vanilla then smiled back approvingly as she finally began eating now as well.

"There's no surprise there," Tails chuckled as he finished another large mouthful of the tasty pasta that was quickly staining the white fur at the rims of his mouth a saucy red without the fox actually realizing it. "I bet even Eggman would love Mrs. Vanilla's cooking!" Tails joked as he then reached to take a sip from his glass of water that had already been provided to each of the diners before they began by the thoughtful mother rabbit.

"Yeah, my mommy's the best chef in all of Mobius!" Cream also praised the humble adult rabbit as she fed the little chao floating next to her a piece of her bread stick with a little sauce dipped on the end.

"Now, Cream, Amy's not a bad cook, either, you know," Vanilla quickly tried to stop the cascading torrent of praises being rained down on her as it made her feel uncomfortable as well as not wanting to possibly make her prideful as she felt a good lady should never be.

"That's just because she got to learn a lot from Ella, though," Cream quickly objected, however.

"You're forgetting that I learned a few things from Ella as well, deary," Vanilla quickly responded to throw off the young bunny's argument.

"Wait… Ella? So, you went to this other dimension called 'Earth' too?" Mysty then interrupted curiously before Cream or Tails could reply again.

"Oh, so you know about that already? I'm sorry for not asking first before almost leaving you out, dear," Vanilla quickly apologized for her momentary lapse in etiquette. "Yes, we all did at one point, dear, but I actually arrived at a later time then Cream did and was forced to hire some detectives to help me find where she was once I got there," Vanilla explained the adventure in brief to the attentive female vulpine.

"Wow… So many people have been there then, so I guess it must be true," Mysty thought out loud while the others around the table listened.

"Of course it is! I just guess that it sounds kinda weird if you've never seen it before yourself, though," Tails assured Mysty as he scratched his head in mild humiliation at never having actually thought before of what his and the others' stories about Earth must have sounded like to the unknowing vixen. Tails almost half wondered now if Mysty wasn't just being so shy before because she thought that up until now she had been talking to a bunch of crazy people.

"That's OK, Mysty! I can tell you all about it tonight before bed!" Cream excitedly replied as she looked over to the female fox across the table from her eagerly.

"Cream!" Vanilla quickly shouted in a slightly raised voice to show that the young bunny had said something she should not have quite yet. With a short sigh at the situation now forced on her to handle, Vanilla quickly turned back to explain to a confused Tails and Mysty. "I'm sorry, Tails. Amy called a few hours ago to tell us of your new friend, and the plans for her to stay here as well. We've actually been expecting you, but I wasn't going to mention anything just in case you hadn't told her yet," Vanilla apologized for her daughter in a voice of sincere regret.

"You mean… You don't want me staying with you anymore, Tails?" Mysty immediately asked as she turned to face the male fox seated next to her with a look of confusion mixed with a hint of betrayal on her face.

"No, Mysty, it's not that…" Tails tried to explain as he had still been hoping to put off with coming up with what he was going to say to her about this until later and was thus unprepared at the moment to answer quickly. "It's just, well… Ever since Sonic moved out a year ago, I haven't really been that good with guests and all. And also, you're a girl, and I'm just not sure if you'd be comfortable in a house that's only occupied by one guy anyways, so…" Tails tried to explain without making it sound like he was trying to send Mysty away, which was most certainly **not** the young fox's intentions at all.

Mysty could tell by the tone of Tails' voice and his clearly saddened body language that there was still even more to it then Tails had just mentioned, but she allowed him to keep his secrets instead of demanding that he tell her everything right then. After all, Tails had so far been allowing her to do the same with her private life and past as well, so it was only fair for her to give him that same luxury in return. "I understand, Tails. Thanks for caring that much for my comfort," Mysty replied in a genuine tone of gratitude as she accepted the new housing arrangements willingly for now. After all, as far as Mysty was concerned, any home was better than no home at all, even if she didn't seem to get to choose which one regardless.

"Well then, I hope you will find yourself right at home here, Mysty," Mrs. Vanilla quickly replied with her usual ultra-mannerly voice that also solidified the relief Tails felt at Mystique's understanding and grateful acceptance despite the fact that the female fox never really seemed to have a say in the matter anyways.

"Thank you, Mrs. Vanilla. I actually like it here already," Mysty smiled as she was finally the first one to take another bite of the delicious food in the last few minutes now.

Everyone else also returned to eating rather silently for the rest of the meal now as the large pan once filled with the gourmet lasagna dinner quickly vanished into the five collective gullets of the hungry Mobians and single chao. At long last, the group finally got up from the table to take care of their respective dishes as Tails got ready to leave the women now for the night.

"Well, I'd probably better be going now before it gets too dark, guy… Erm, I mean, girls," Tails scratched his head and smiled sheepishly again as he caught his little mistake at the end of his short farewell just after saying it.

"Will I be able to see you again tomorrow, Tails?" Mysty urgently asked before the other fox could get all the way to the door again, though.

"Of course! You'll be coming to the party tomorrow with everyone else, won't you, Tails?" Cream excitedly asked since she had been looking forward to the next day and its annual reunion held in memory of the major special event that they all had celebrated together as a tradition for a couple years now.

"Well, probably… That is, if I don't get too busy tonight and forget about it again," Tails answered, his tone suddenly dropping in a way that didn't quite fit the words he was saying as something clearly more was weighing on the fox's mind then just tomorrow's festivities.

"Oh, I'm sure you won't, deary," Vanilla quickly responded in a voice that betrayed no suspicion of Tails' change in tone whatsoever. "Have a good night, Tails, honey. Oh, and dear…" the mother rabbit then motioned with a finger to a spot on the side of her own mouth subtly.

Tails was momentarily lost by the strange cue, until he stuck his tongue out slightly to touch the area on his own white muzzle that Mrs. Vanilla had described and discovered the strong taste of tomato sauce and spices still prominent on the surrounding fur. "Oh! Whoops," Tails laughed as he quickly wiped his mouth clean using a napkin Vanilla then promptly offered to him. "Thanks again, Mrs. Vanilla," Tails courteously replied one final time as he then left the Rabbit family home through the front door behind him and strolled to the end of the front yard's walkway before spinning his namesakes and taking the quicker aerial route back home in the already darkening post-dusk skies.


	5. Chapter 5: No Thanks for the Memories

Incest

Hello once more, everyone! It's been almost another month or perhaps more since I've updated this story with its next chapter, and boy what a difference just one month can bring, let me tell ya... Needless to say, the loss of my father the day after I posted last chapter was a major reason for the delay in this chapter getting done as well, but, no matter what, this story and the rest of life must go on. I thank all of you who reviewed last chapter and all those who also sent me your caring messages of hope during the tragedy of my dad's sudden death not long ago. I can't stress enough how important you people talking to me and giving me encouragement is for my drive to keep writting these stories despite all that's going on in my life constantly, it seems. I've probably read and re-read every single review for every one of my stories so far at least three times already, and I'm always finding myself inspired everytime I do to keep on writting. So, please don't stop reviewing! EVER!

Anyways, other than the usual disclaimer this time (which, by the way, I still don't own Sonic, Tails, or any related characters, and you know who they belong to as well as I do), I actually should also state that I do not own the song "Welcome to My Life" by Simple Plan. You'll see what I mean later, trust me. At any rate, on to the chapter itself! (Also cunningly a pun of another somewhat depressing song! XD)

Chapter 5: No Thanks for the Memories

As far as parties went, this one was rather unimpressive to most. There was no music, no decorations, not even a building to celebrate in. Instead, a huge picnic spread was set up in a large grassy field underneath a lone tree, a _Sassafras varifolium _or Sassafras tree as Mysty easily pointed out from the clustered yellow-green flowers just now emerging from their buds in the early spring season.

She was already here early with Vanilla, Cream, and Cheese to help set everything up for the party, which entailed not much more than simply arranging all the food on blankets to one side of the tall flowering tree. Truthfully, Mysty already had her reservations about attending this annual picnic and so called party because it seemed everyone Tails knew would be here today as well. Sure, she felt comfortable around most of the people she had met through Tails so far, but being an outsider allowed into such a seemingly important celebration full of half strangers was more than an excuse for the naturally shy vixen to feel literally terrified right now. Combine that with the fact that Cream had already told Mysty the other night a little about some of Tails' other friends which she hadn't met yet, predominantly more males, and it was a miracle that the female fox didn't simply faint away at any moment now. _If only Tails can get here before everyone else…_ Mystique hoped silently as she stood shuddering slightly under the shade of the large, blooming tree.

Thankfully, however, Cream seemed to take notice of Mysty's discomfort while assisting her mother nearby and quickly walked up to her with a concerned look on her face. "Mysty? Are you feeling all right? 'Cause you're looking a little sick and shaking all over…" Cream asked worriedly followed by an immediate second from Cheese floating alongside the bunny like always.

Mysty looked up from the ground she had absently been staring at for a while now, instantly calmed somewhat just by the young rabbit's concern. Despite still feeling uncomfortable around Cream, just as she still was with about everyone, Mysty started to smile at the familiar and caring faces in front of her. "No, I'm fine, Cream, really…" Mysty replied quickly as she made efforts to compose herself better if only for the sake of the innocent youths she was currently talking to. "When do you suppose Tails and everyone else will be here?" Mysty immediately changed the subject slightly to cover up the real extent of her current fear. She knew that Cream would eventually ask why she was so nervous around other people all the time, but Mysty really didn't want to give the still impressionable mind of the young rabbit her full, truthful answer yet either.

"They should all be here any time now. Isn't this going to be fun? I haven't seen everyone together again since probably last year!" the excited bunny announced as she closed her eyes due to smiling so big. Mysty wasn't even sure how it was possible for Cream to have such a cute smile, even her eyelids seemed to come together in miniature smiles of their own when she closed them that way, and Cheese's face was not a single bit less cute compared to Cream's either. Despite the encouragement, however, Mysty was still far less than excited to meet everyone in a few minutes. Cream could tell that the female fox was still rather nervous and instinctively tried again to calm her down. "Oh, don't worry, Mysty! I know they'll all love you, and you look so nice now, too!" Cream tried to compliment Mystique in order to get the vixen to cheer up a little more.

Cream wasn't just handing out praise for nothing, however, since Mysty's appearance indeed seem to be much enhanced today. The reason being that last night and this morning both, the uncomfortable vixen had been exposed to the one girlish pastime she'd never had the chance to go through before, a makeover. It had been Cream's idea and the young bunny who'd started it with a simple voluntary offer to share a few 'secret' beauty treatments with Mysty as one of their many topics of discussion last night. Being just old enough to get excited about such things, Cream then got the idea that Mysty would make a perfect companion for her to try out her amateur beauty enhancing skills on. Mysty had been too afraid or shy to decline, of course, and thirty minutes later the vixen was just barely saved from Cream the salon barber by a curious Vanilla.

Mysty, however, thought the idea was still a good one as she didn't want to upset Cream and knew she probably needed a drastic makeover anyways after living so long on the dirty street alleys back in the city. Faced with the vixen's approval then, Vanilla decided to assist Cream instead. Mysty had to admit it was probably the most fun she'd ever had before, getting worked on and primped up for hours with the two jovial rabbits and unpredictable chao. By the time they had finished her second and final session this morning, not even copious amounts of vanishing cream could probably ever cover the women's laughing lines permanently etched under all their fur from the event.

The results, however, were even more stunning than the process had been amusing. For starters, Mysty no longer had a single sign of grime on her whole body. Even some stains the vixen had once thought were discolored fur or birthmarks due to how deep they were ingrained had been miraculously erased, leaving her light orange coat to practically shimmer with the noonday light. Her cream muzzle likewise seemed pristine, but the matching patch of colored fur on her chest was now completely concealed beneath the most radical change for Mystique yet, her clothes. Back in the city, clothing was a needless expense compared to food. Besides, she knew from experience in her line of work that clothing of any sort usually didn't last long anyways. Now, however, she wore a small red shirt which extended down to expand into a manageable skirt as well, the necessary items that all respectable women kept on underneath to protect their modesty, a small blue ribbon of sorts tied around the neck of the shirt like a mini ascot, and the same white gloves over her hands that everyone else seemed to wear as well around here. If she seemed to look a lot alike to Cream in this apparel, however, it was probably because these were indeed actually a few of the young rabbit's clothes she was now borrowing to wear at Cream's insistence, at least for the time being until Mysty could get her own apparel.

Only one thing about Mysty now stuck out as out of place, which was, as always, her abnormally robust tail. The unwieldy thing was noticeably cleaned and lightly groomed, but nowhere near the brilliant luster as the rest of Mysty's rejuvenated fur. The reason was simple enough, though, Mysty had simply refused the entire time both rabbits were assisting her to allow either one to touch or work on her tail. Mysty was thus forced to only get the large appendage as pristine as she could on her own, despite some prodding from Cream and Vanilla both as to why it had to be that way. Mysty had never given them a solid excuse, however, save that she just felt uncomfortable about anyone but herself coming into contact with the bushy tail for a personal reason. The point was dropped after that, but Mysty now almost regretted her obstinacy as she knew her own job with the disobedient tangle of fur which was her own extra-thick tail looked substandard opposed to her otherwise completely new visage.

"Yes, I think so, too, Cream. I'm just a little itchy for some reason…" Mysty finally acknowledged Cream's compliment a second later as she reached to a sensitive area underneath her shirt to scratch a slightly annoying spot lightly.

Vanilla, who had only just finished the preparations and was now coming over to see what was being discussed, quickly announced her presence with a short giggle covered daintily by a gloved hand across her mouth. "You aren't very accustomed to going around fully clothed very often, are you, Mysty?"

"No, not much actually, Mrs. Vanilla. My thick fur usually is all I really need in most cases, but I can probably get used to this after a while," Mysty replied, completely comfortable with sharing information this far with the two rabbits after getting plenty of time recently to understand them a bit more.

"Well, you and Tails are one of the lucky Mobian species with fur long enough to do that without seeming inappropriate, honey, but I personally think it looks good on you anyways," Vanilla commented immediately to make sure she wasn't somehow offending Mysty by accident with the topic.

"But, what do you think Tails and the others will think?" Mysty asked as she stood rooted in place once more as her anxiety came back again full circle.

"Think about what?" a voice came from behind the lone flowering tree before any of the two rabbits could respond. That's when both Sonic and Amy then showed up, walking hand-in-hand around the tree from the opposite side having clearly just arrived together.

"Amy! Sonic! I'm so glad you came!" Cream shouted excitedly while forgetting the current discussion upon the couple's arrival. She immediately rushed over to the two hedgehogs with arms wide out and all but tackled the pink one to the ground with a flying hug.

"Chao! Cha Chao Chao!" Cheese also exclaimed, flying quickly over to Amy as well and hovering in circles around the pink hedgehog in greeting. Amy was without a doubt Cream's best friend in the world barring Cheese, so it came naturally after all these years for Cheese to see Amy as its friend too.

Sonic just shrugged in response as if to joke about his not getting any of the attention from the bunny and chao while Amy fought to keep her balance from the over-excited bunny's greeting. Unfortunately, she failed and the two fell backwards with Cream landing on top of the tackled pink hedgehog on the grass underneath the large tree. Everyone standing around chuckled slightly at the awkward, if not cute, accident while Cream finally got off Amy in a hurry to help the hedgehog back up.

"It's good to see you too, Cream, but it hasn't been that long, has it?" Amy immediately greeted the happy bunny as she brushed a bit of loose grass off her usual red skirt upon returning to her feet.

"Sorry, Amy, I'm just really excited to see everyone today again…" Cream explained somewhat while lowering her face in shame at overreacting on such a grand scale.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Cream. I'm actually impressed! You must be gettin' stronger now if ya can take down Amy like that!" Sonic answered for his wife as he smirked mischievously at his quick joke and observance.

"And just what's that supposed to mean, Sonic Hedgehog?" Amy quickly replied while turning to glare at the blue hedgehog near her dangerously. The insinuated difficulty of her mass making her hard to tip over did not go unnoticed by the ever alert Amy.

"What?! I didn't say anything!" Sonic immediately took a step back while waving both hands before him in an attempt to avoid Amy's fury as a result of his joke. This got a laugh out of everyone but the two hedgehogs involved as spectating a match between the two was always a funny and interesting event. Amy finally backed off on her glare a moment later, however, leaving Sonic free at last to spot Mysty and Vanilla not far off where Cream had started her flying tackle/hug earlier. "Mysty? Wow, you look great!" Sonic commented when he saw the remodeled vixen.

"Hmm… Even I have to admit, you clean up really well," Amy spoke next, although if it was intended as an insult or a compliment was still undetermined. Clearly the pink hedgehog was still in the process of being convinced that Mysty deserved to be here as a part of the special celebration as Sonic now took his turn to shoot Amy a quick warning glance about her openly hostile greeting.

Mysty only nodded her acceptance of the praise while something else more vital formed its own question on her lips. "Is Tails coming soon, Mr. Sonic?" she asked worriedly.

"Please, don't call me 'Mister' Sonic, Mysty. It makes me feel old," Sonic half-jested in response before his tone got more serious. "I don't know when Tails will show, though. He's also got some… well, 'other stuff' going on today as well," Sonic finally answered, much to the vixen's dismay at the unpromising news.

"Does that mean Tails might forget again this year, too?" Cream quickly asked Sonic as he knew the fox in question better than anyone.

Sonic lowered his head quickly to think about how to compose a response to Cream's question that would both stifle her curiosity and keep him from having to betray Tails' privacy and trust as well. Luckily for him, however, Cream's mother missed hardly a beat at relieving the hedgehog of his burden. "Cream, dear, if Sonic knew whether Tails was coming or not, don't you think he'd tell us?" Vanilla interposed the question to her daughter in her time-perfected method of making someone find the answer to a puzzle by themselves rather than just telling them outright.

Cream seemed to be confused for a moment as she looked up at Vanilla's vibrant gaze. Then, a figurative light bulb seemed to go off in her head telling the young rabbit just what she had been forgetting before asking her question a second ago. "Oh, right, sorry for being nosy, Sonic," Cream apologized as she realized that she had no reason to believe Sonic knew anything more than the rest of them about Tails' chances of showing or not today.

"You don't have to apologize for just asking, Cream," Amy burst in immediately afterwards. She knew Vanilla was only trying to help and save Sonic from an unwanted predicament, but the pink hedgehog who saw the young bunny almost as a little sister felt that Cream's mother tended to force her into being far **too** proper at times.

Meanwhile, Mysty witnessed this small interaction quietly from the sidelines of the group. She wasn't about to interrupt since she had nothing to say and was too shy anyways, but a slightly hushed yell from behind her and the others made her involuntarily jump, drawing everyone's attention to the frightened vixen before they heard the voice as well.

"C'mon, Espio! Can't you hurry it up a little?! I'm starving he- Mumphmupm!" a young, higher pitched voice yelled before being forcibly cut off by someone covering the source's mouth with one hand.

"Can it, you bumbling bee! You're gonna give us away!" an older, much bossier voice followed in a still blatantly audible but hushed shout.

At this, everyone but Mysty shared a combined knowing look, with Sonic even going so far as to shake his head briefly in comic disbelief. Not understanding what was happening that everyone else seemed to already know, Mysty quickly turned around to see the area behind her where the voices had come from, followed immediately by everyone else's combined gazes. They were all just in time to see what looked like a green, long snouted creature's head duck abruptly down under the top of some nearby bushes, with a large green hand immediately dragging a hovering, small bumblebee down with it into hiding as well. That wasn't the strangest sight now visible, though, as Mysty let out an audible gasp of shock at a plate of Vanilla's freshly prepared cupcakes somehow levitating above the rest of the picnic on its own as if in the hands of some sort of ghost. The sound of her short, squealing gasp, though, made the bobbing plate suddenly turn perfectly still as another cupcake seemed to hover in mid-air as well, interrupted on route to the plate with all the others. Mysty was terrified at the strange sights and voices as she started to shake once more until, of all the people Mysty wouldn't have expected to be unafraid of seeing ghosts, Cream suddenly spoke up towards the hovering cupcakes.

"Mr. Espio, it's not nice to steal food while everyone's not looking," Cream stated while planting both hands on her hips defiantly, looking every bit like Amy who was undoubtedly the influence responsible for the action in the first place.

Mysty stopped her frightened shaking and opened her tightly closed eyes at the sound of Cream's rebuke just in time to see the air around the floating plate dissolve into the shape of a purple chameleon. "Hey, don't blame me. It was all Vector's idea," Espio bluntly stated while pointing an accusing finger towards the bushes where a large green crocodile and small bee immediately came out and walked over to the rest of the gathered crowd.

"Oh, way to not give us away, Espio…" the very large crocodilian Mobian muttered purposefully out loud to the purple chameleon as all three new faces now stood together in front of everyone else. "Besides, it really wasn't _**my**_ idea anyways! If Charmy here hadn't been drooling to get a hold of one of them cupcakes before everyone else…" the large green Mobian started to pass the blame handed to him a second ago.

"Hey!" the younger bee instantly broke in impulsively. "I was not drooling! Besides, Espio's the one who got caught anyways!"

"Only because _**someone**_ shouted at me and got everyone's attention…" Espio calmly remarked in self-defense while having set down the plate full of cupcakes safely and crossing his arms with both eyes closed in his normal stance of indifference.

"Well, I can't help it if you're a lousy nin-jumpsuit whatever thingy!" the petulant bee shouted back, seeming to be unable to just let the argument and insults end without him being established as blameless.

A small vein in the purple chameleon's head started to become visible briefly as Espio's eyes glared back threateningly towards the bee. "It's 'ninjitsu', and I happen to be quite good at it, thank you," Espio retorted quickly.

"Then why'd you get caught, huh?" Charmy wasted not a second before taunting Espio with the straightforward question.

"Heh… He might actually have a point there this time, Espio," the crocodile muttered while scratching the top of his head in a comical fashion at the awkwardness of the situation.

"Don't you even start too, Vector," Espio threatened while clenching his fists to his sides and averting his stare from the laughing juvenile bee to the older croc instead. This time he got the results he was looking for as Vector instinctively stepped back once and extended both hands in front of himself to ward off Espio's inferred attack.

The hilarious scene was interrupted by the combined laughter of everyone else present, save Mysty, who didn't understand why the arguing of the seemingly dysfunctional trio was comical since it was her first time meeting them all. "Ha ha ha…! Glad to see you guys haven't changed much!" Sonic's voice broke through the din of laughter as the three newcomers all turned to face the blue hedgehog and everyone else with puzzled looks on each of their faces.

"Hey! And just what's that supposed to mean, you…!" Vector turned to reply to Sonic's witty observance with one of his own before first meeting eyes with the new face in the crowd. "Whoa-Ho! Why's Tails dressed up like a girl?!" the confused crocodile mistook Mysty for the more familiar fox at first glance.

"You big, green dumbbell! That's not Tails; she's only got one tail like normal fox's do. This one's someone different," Espio quickly corrected Vector's mistake.

"Yeah, Detective Clueless, even I caught that one," Charmy also chimed in immediately afterwards as both Mobians pretended not to know the large croc which now was frozen in embarrassment with beads of sweat all along his brow and just chuckling softly at his mistake.

Finally, Vector got control of himself again and suddenly leaped into a renewed fervor as if to make up for his humiliating mistake earlier. "Well, then! If she's someone new around here, then why haven't we personally introduced ourselves yet?! My name's Vector the crocodile, Miss," the large green Mobian quickly blurted out with a slight bow before continuing on. "Also, this guy's name is Espio, and this troublemaker is Charmy Bee," Vector finished as he motioned to either one of his companions as he introduced them.

Mysty took a moment to get a thorough look at each of the three new males now as Vector introduced the whole group. The obvious leader, Vector, scared her quite a bit with his imposing size and build, but he also seemed harmless enough from what little she had seen and heard so far. He wore white gloves like most of the people Tails knew seemed to do, but his were larger and more shaped like boxing gloves for reasons Mysty was too terrified to concentrate on. Around his neck, she spotted a golden chain unchanged or removed in years, just as Cream had briefly mentioned last night when telling Mysty about some of the other people she would meet today at the celebration. Something Mysty wasn't aware of, however, was the recent addition of a large hanging emblem attached to the chain necklace that was adorned only with a big 'V'. Undoubtedly the symbol stood for 'Vector', but a few brave or perhaps foolish souls had been known from time to time to interpret the mysterious emblem to mean another Mobian's name instead whom Vector could actually still be secretly having his sights on. Unaware of this insider gossip yet, though, Mysty thought nothing more about the green crocodile as she shifted to the purple chameleon to his right.

Espio scared Mysty almost as much as Vector due to the way he was relaxing now with his eyes closed and arms crossed. She could tell that he was the strong, silent type if there ever was one. Having seen his vanishing skills earlier too, Mysty didn't doubt for a second his ability to sneak around and surprise people if he wanted to. Just the thought sent shivers down her spine as she only managed to feel slightly relieved that at least he didn't seem interested in her at all. Quickly, she turned to inspect the final member of the group.

Charmy, the youngest and self appointed 'most annoying' member of the odd gang, looked exactly like your typical bumblebee, except several times larger and wearing a strange pilot's helmet along with an orange colored jacket embroidered with a small bee and matching sneakers. Despite his size being gigantic for a bee of any variety, however, he was quite small in size, especially compared to Vector who the bee was currently hovering next to while giving Mysty a warm grin. Anyone but Mysty actually would have noticed that the diminutive bee had actually grown somewhat since last year, but Charmy still seemed doomed to stay smaller than even the younger Cream who had already outgrown him by a good few inches now even so.

Satisfied that Mysty had now taken all the time she wanted to familiarize herself with the newcomers, Vanilla finally broke the silence in her sweet voice. "I'm so glad that you and your friends could make it again this year, Vector. Please, make yourselves comfortable while we wait for the others to show up, too," the hospitable rabbit extended her courtesy to the three while also subtly managing to inform them that the food was off limits for now as well.

"Sure thing, Mrs. V! Team Chaotix is always happy to be here, too!" Vector replied enthusiastically while a slight blush quickly appeared on his cheeks behind his large snout and vanished again instantly as well. The trio then disbanded to mingle with the others. Espio went straight to leaning comfortably alone against the single large tree, with Mysty constantly stealing a glance back at him in caution from time to time as well just to be sure he wasn't sneaking around on her invisibly, while Vector dragged Charmy away from the tempting goodies laid out for when everyone arrived and went over to chat with Vanilla, Sonic, and Amy, leaving the disappointed Charmy to eventually start some kind of boyish antics or discussion with Cream who was the only one really close to his age present.

Thus engaged, it was doubtful anyone might have noticed the next two familiar faces to arrive unless one of them had announced their presence as soon as they reached the same area where everyone was busy talking idly. "Hey there! Sorry if we're late!" a loud and somewhat gruff voice shouted out while a red echidna and ivory bat came into the rough circle of activity.

"Heya, Knuckles! Long time no see, buddy!" Sonic greeted the new arrival and close personal friend of his while Mysty caught her first glimpse of the imposing echidna. If Vector had seemed muscular enough to scare the vixen earlier, then the sight of Knuckles almost made her dash for the hills. There was no doubt that the red echidna was strong, and Mysty felt very unnerved just by his presence.

"And what am I, big blue? Chopped liver?" the bat standing now beside the red echidna objected sassily at the lack of reaction to her arrival as well.

"Oh, come on, Rouge… You just can't accept that I'm more popular than you are," Knuckles quickly responded with a sneer while giving Sonic a high five in celebration of the quick insult.

The white bat stamped her feet while gritting her teeth in response to the surprisingly fast quip that she had fallen into while also reminding herself to get her retribution in a minute on the red echidna. Meanwhile, Rouge scanned over the crowd of familiar faces until surprisingly locating one she didn't recognize already and now paying close attention to the female fox as if studying her for some kind of test later. Mysty was already just finishing doing to same to her, however, as the one thing which stood out to the vixen about the first new female arrival was her rather provocative attire, especially the large, heart shaped emblem on her form fitting top that seemed to double for a bra, which also revealed a good bit of the two reasons the emblem itself probably needed to be so big to begin with. Mysty had seen this bat's type before, and now she prayed that Rouge wouldn't find out about her own profession and begin asking her any questions.

After the two seemed to look each other over for a moment, Knuckles finally traced the gaze from Rouge back to Mysty in curiosity. "Hey, Sonic, who's the pretty new face, huh?" Knuckles immediately asked the hedgehog standing next to him now.

"Glad ya asked, Knuckles. This here's a new friend of my little bro's. Her name's Mysty," Sonic immediately filled him and Rouge in on the basics.

"New friend?" Knuckles asked in a somewhat hinting tone as he saw the well groomed and undoubtedly attractive vixen before him and wondered whether or not Tails and Mysty could be closer than just that to each other. Rouge also joined in the speculation with a knowing look across her face as both looked to Sonic for an answer to either affirm or dispel their suspicions.

Sonic, however, didn't even pause to let on that he understood what they were both implying. "Yup, that's it! My bro just met her the other day, and they've already gotten to know each other a bit," Sonic explained, perhaps not in the best way as to dissuade the current suspicions of the newly arrived pair either.

"Well then, I'd better introduce myself, shouldn't I?" Knuckles responded after a second's pause, his voice now no longer hinting or confused as it sounded just as genuine as ever. Walking up to Mysty, Knuckles extended a hand to shake with her while formally introducing himself. "Hello there, Mysty. Not sure if you've heard by now, but I'm Knuckles, one of Tails' friends as well," the burly echidna spoke civilly as his open palm neared the visibly frightened vixen.

Mysty made no response to Knuckle's polite greeting, however. Neither did she take his offered hand for a simple handshake. Instead, the terrified female fox instinctively lurched back a few steps while her hands shot up to cover her head in protection as tears of fright started to fall from her eyes.

"Nice going, Mr. Sensitive. You're quite the lady-killer," Rouge quickly remarked in response to Mysty's oddly extreme and seemingly unprovoked reaction, also getting Knuckles back for his insult to her earlier in the process.

Knuckles just stood where he was in shock with arm still outstretched in expectations of a handshake he'd never gotten, wondering what he'd done wrong to scare the unfamiliar vixen so badly. Luckily, Sonic understood a good part of the problem and quickly interrupted with a quick explanation yet again. "It's not your fault, Knuckles. Mysty's just a little shy around guys it seems," the blue hedgehog answered with a shrug as if to show he didn't understand the cause for Mysty's extreme discomfort. This got Knuckles to put his arm back down and shrug a non-verbal 'whatever' while Cream also went over to comfort the crying female fox. Rouge, however, was less than convinced and gave both Sonic and the frightened vixen an inquisitive stare, her sixth sense as a spy easily notifying her that more was at work here than was being told so far and intriguing her to find out just what it was as well.

Once Mysty had calmed down, however, Rouge soon found all eyes somehow or another gazing at her expectantly. "What? Do I have a blemish or something?" Rouge called out to the crowd of people all looking more or less in her direction.

"It's your turn to introduce yourself now, Rouge," Amy quickly reminded the bat of what everyone was expecting from her at the moment.

"Oh, of course!" Rouge spoke quickly to avoid further embarrassment while turning to face Mysty once more. "Name's Rouge, honey, and I'm a pretty nice gal once you get to know me," the ivory bat greeted the new member into the circle of friends with her usual seductive voice and mannerisms. Mysty, however, found it slightly difficult to believe a woman so blatantly slutty would actually be a friend of Tails', but she dismissed it as possibly just an acquaintance to a lot of people in this group and not really one of the people Tails would actually talk to normally.

"So, how come you and Knuckles showed up together just now, Rouge?" Amy quickly brought up the burning question to her as the formalities of introducing everyone were finally completed as the conversation turned back to idle chatter again.

Neither of the two responded right away, however. Rouge looked like she had just been hit by a taser dart from behind while her eyes tried to pop out slightly from her head in surprise by the sudden question, while Knuckle's jaw dropped so far that it would seem to be dislocated. Surprisingly, though, the red echidna was the first to pull himself together and respond. "Well, Uhhh… Heh heh… You know how me and Rouge have been dating a little bit ever since last year?" Knuckles started to break the news neither had expected to announce so soon.

"Yeah, so?" Sonic quickly spurred the echidna on while he crossed his arms with a sly grin on his face, already understanding like most of the Mobians present just where this might be going.

"So, Umm… Well, I think Rouge and I have decided to get a little closer than just that now…" Knuckles implied the answer he still couldn't bring himself to say.

No further explanation was needed now, though, as everyone present immediately reacted in varying manners to the news. "Oh, that's wonderful, Knuckles! I'm sure you two will make a great couple," Vanilla excitedly replied first, understanding fully the joys and expectations of marriage from a long time ago when she was just a newlywed herself.

"Are you kidding me?! Knuckles and Rouge actually getting married?!" Vector chimed in with a shout of disbelief at the match he thought could never happen as much as those two fought with each other.

"Hey, if Sonic finally said yes to Amy almost a year ago, then anything's possible," Espio quickly replied to Vector's doubtful exclamation.

"Yeah, and maybe now that means you'll also have a chance with Mrs. Va-" Charmy flew up in front of Vector's large snout with a sneering grin to blurt out his comical prediction before Vector clamped both hands over the bee's mouth and blushed profusely at anyone who might have overheard him.

Meanwhile, Rouge finally found her voice once more to join in by confirming the unlikely match. "Yeah, Muscle-brain here can actually be quite charming sometimes, if you can believe it," Rouge spoke out loud to everyone in her normal teasing manner.

"Heh, you're not always a bunch of roses yourself, honey," Knuckles responded without missing a beat, the two still seeming to taunt each other more than ever now despite their impending matrimony together. "Talking about roses, though, it's all your fault anyways for catching that bouquet at Sonic's wedding!" Knuckles added in another quick shout towards Rouge.

Rouge just raised both palms upwards in a shrug as she responded. "Hey, what are you gonna do? They came with that nice crystal vase…" the jewel obsessed bat belied her vain reasons for the action a year ago.

Everyone spent the next few minutes either laughing quietly at the comedy of the event and the words bantered back and forth between the two or talking amongst themselves about the possible arrangements for the ceremony, honeymoon, new shared home, and such before finally noticing the time which had passed with no new arrivals. "Is there no one else coming then, Sonic?" Knuckles asked after a while when the excitement and chattering had died considerably.

"Well, I dunno. All who's missing as far as I can tell is my little bro," Sonic answered back while his words caught Mysty's attention over where she was talking to the other women.

Clearly Cream had overheard as well, though, as the young rabbit quickly turned to speak with her mother about the missing invitee. "Momma? Do you think that Tails forgot about the party again?" the cute bunny asked while giving a slight tug to Vanilla's long skirt to get her mother's attention.

Vanilla only looked back at her daughter with a caring smile as she responded. "I don't know, dear, but I think we've all probably waited long enough if he was coming. Hopefully Tails might show up a little late, but, for now, let's all go eat before the food spoils," the creator of the succulent feast laid out before the gathered group finally gave the go ahead for everyone to dig in.

Immediately, the word spread throughout all the assembled Mobians as the food laid out on the picnic blankets nearby was almost instantly mobbed by everyone present. Everyone found something to eat out of all the different dishes laid out on the ground, and plenty of it as well. Mrs. Vanilla seemed to have wisely anticipated the bottomless stomachs and specialized tastes of everyone present, making sure that no one's favorite dish had gone uncooked or would be gone by the time they got to it as well. Even Mysty was put at ease while trying a bit of everything for herself, not ever having such a chance to expand her tastes like this before in her life.

The gorging and casual conversation continued for the next hour or so until Sonic finally stood up in front of them all while the group was still relaxing in the shade of the large flowering tree overhead. Clearing his throat to ensure he had everyone's attention, the blue hedgehog began his short prepared speech to commemorate the reason for the event.

"We all know why we're here today… Well, almost all of us, I guess," Sonic began slowly, already catching himself for accidentally forgetting Mysty was present as well in his oration. "Two years ago today, the Metarex almost managed to destroy the whole universe and kill all life but plants forever. The only reason we're here today ta celebrate is because, thanks to all of us workin' together, the Metarex were stopped, just barely. That makes today a day that should always be remembered and celebrated by each of us for the rest of our lives, like we are doing right now," Sonic spoke in a determined and joyful manner.

However, he paused now for only a moment before continuing on in a tone much less cheerful and very solemn. "But… Let us also remember that today is also a sad day. A day to remember the countless people lost to the Metarex's rampage all over the galaxy, including a couple of our own. Shadow the hedgehog, for his sacrifice yet again to save us all and the only reason I'm personally still here today as well, and Cosmo, who first led us to fight against the Metarex and restore the Planet Eggs; and who gave her life as the last of her kind to stop Dark Oak once and for all. May their sacrifices never be forgotten," Sonic finished as his and everyone else's heads all lowered in reverence to the lost.

Mysty, however, suddenly sat bolt upright with a sudden start at Sonic's mournful words. Initially, it was just the disbelief that all this had happened and the entire universe was saved without her even knowing it was in jeopardy that caused the female fox to feel completely shocked, but a second later something else caught her attention even more. '_Dark Oak…'_ Mysty knew that she'd heard that name before recently from someone else as well. Searching back quickly, she at last remembered where and who it was that had mentioned it. It had been Tails once she'd told him the identity of a random tree he'd pointed at during their walk together yesterday morning. She also recalled that as he mumbled the odd name the fox had grown distant, as if focused on some old memory that never went away for just a moment until he had continued the stroll through the woods with her. Now Mysty couldn't help but see some sort of connection, and it all seemed tied in with this new person's name, Cosmo. Still, she noticed how somber the once lively group had gotten at the mention of the name, much like Tails had at the earlier mention of Dark Oak, and decided it would be far too rude and inappropriate to go around asking questions about this 'Cosmo' right now.

During her thoughts, however, a minute of silence passed by over the large gathering of Mobians. Eventually, Sonic raised his head again and proceeded to walk back over to his seat near Amy, signaling everyone else that they could resume whatever they were doing again once more. Slowly, murmurs of hushed conversations gradually resurfaced until after a few minutes when everyone was just as lively and happily chatting as before.

"So then, foxy, where exactly do you come from anyways?" Rouge eventually asked Mysty from inside her current group also consisting of Amy, Sonic, and Knuckles at the moment.

"I'm… from Central City, actually," Mysty replied in a shy voice of apprehension. If all the new faces around her weren't enough to scare the poor vixen halfway to death, now being the center of attention in one of the larger groups of chatting people almost pushed her the other half of the way there.

Rouge's eyes widened a bit in astonishment at this news. "Really? And just what would a nice lookin' gal like you be doing for a living over there anyways?" Rouge asked the burning question she had already started to have her suspicions as to the answer of regardless.

Mysty now froze up in terror at the precision inquiry into the very heart of exactly the thing she didn't want to tell anyone around her right now, if ever. "I… I… Uhhhm…" Mysty's mouth stammered while her mind scrambled for something intelligent to actually say in response to the question. "I… can't remember," she finally announced, unable to even formulate the most meager of excuses under her sudden pressure.

"Huh? You can't remember your own job after just a couple days?" Knuckles quickly chimed in, clearly confused at this extremely unbelievable story of sudden amnesia.

Mysty only stared at the ground she sat on in shame, unable to even attempt to defend her feeble excuse as she felt tears fighting for position to be first to wash into her eyes despite her fighting to keep them inside. Graciously, Sonic ended up coming to her rescue just before she lost control with his own vaguely short explanation. "Nah, she's just shy, like I told ya guys earlier," Sonic made the fast save. "Mysty here actually works a lot with some other guys back in the city, don't ya?" Sonic all but winked to try and signify for Mysty to go along with the half truth.

Mysty's head jolted up at the hedgehog's words, surprised at how easy Sonic had found a way to help her hide her actual occupation from the others. However, she also knew that this meant Sonic had already discovered for himself just what her real 'job' was, too. And if he knew, so did Amy most likely. _But, what about…_ Mysty began to ask herself before she suddenly gasped out loud at her revelation. Sonic had pulled Tails aside for a little while yesterday, so for all she knew… Mysty now had to fight even harder in order to keep the tears out of her eyes as she realized her disturbing little secret was somehow already starting to spread even without her telling anyone.

To the observant Rouge who hadn't heard this actual piece of juicy gossip yet, however, Mysty's reactions were all the proof she needed. "Gee, I wonder just how close…" Rouge taunted with a sadistic chuckle at her subtle hinting.

"Leave her alone, Rouge. You're just making her feel worse, can't you see?" Knuckles quickly responded, although he seemed to be the only one in the small group as of yet not to understand what the others had already found out.

"I can't understand why, though. I'd probably kill to have her job any day! Just think about it, getting all powdered up and having a good time every night… Must be an absolute blast if you ask me!" the bat quickly answered back, seemingly envious of Mysty's occupation as Rouge no doubt considered it to be an almost glamorous lifestyle.

"Not to mention getting paid, too," Amy unexpectedly broke in, earning a stunned expression from Sonic as he couldn't believe he'd just heard that from his own wife.

"Amy!" Sonic shouted in disbelief as he didn't know what to think about the incredibly rude hedgehog next to him for that moment.

"Whoa, just hold on now for one cotton-pickin' second! What on Mobius are you all talking about?!" Knuckles broke in with his aggravated voice at once again feeling out of the loop because of his being a bit slow on the uptake.

"We're talking about Miss Foxy over there, guy. She's even foxier than you might think," Rouge taunted Knuckles by giving him only another hint she knew he wouldn't understand.

"And just what's that supposed to mean?!" Knuckles' rage grew predictably as he didn't want more of the riddle for his answer; he just needed the straight truth.

"All these years, and you'd think finally he might have learned something by now," Rouge sighed while shaking her head in disgrace. "Better make it easy for him, I guess. Mysty's a prostitute, Knuckles," Rouge was the one to finally come out and say it, and rather bluntly at that, too.

"A what?" a young voice suddenly chimed in which caused Mysty to suddenly lift her face from her hands she was using to hide her tears and stare in its direction for a moment. Standing next to Amy now, Cream looked somewhat confused at the scene in front of her, as well as the strange word she had just overheard when she walked over to speak to Amy less than a second ago. For Mysty, knowing that even the impressionable young bunny now knew her shameful secret was the final straw. She couldn't stop herself from breaking down in shame now, so she did the only thing she could do, run. With nothing but the sound of her soft weeping and wailing as a goodbye, the female fox abruptly scrambled blindly to her feet and made tracks as far away and as fast as possible, leaving all the other gathered Mobians at the picnic stunned by her sudden reaction whether they had witnessed the conversation beforehand or not.

* * *

Running in a seemingly aimless straight line away from the party, only looking out her tear blurred eyes enough to prevent falling or hitting anything, Mysty kept going forwards until she was sure that she was a good distance away and no one had followed her. She'd somehow managed to find her way into a small forest seemingly growing on a hill, but paid no mind to it as she quickly spotted a large tree and sat underneath while allowing her tears to flow unhindered.

It just wasn't fair for her. All these years, she'd never had anyone who cared for her half as much as Tails and the rest of his friends had, but now she'd be sent away again. She knew that no one thought highly of a street urchin like her, especially with the job she was forced into as well. Mysty didn't know about Sonic, but she could tell Amy definitely looked down on her for it by her commonly hostile attitude towards her. And Mrs. Vanilla… Once she hears the truth from Cream or the others any second now, how could the proper mother want Mysty anywhere near her daughter or her house? But, who Mysty was most concerned about though was Tails. If Sonic did actually tell him yesterday, then what would he think of her? Could it be the reason he sent her to live with Vanilla and Cream last night, or perhaps why he didn't show up at the picnic today? Mysty's tears only increased as she couldn't stand the thought of losing all that she'd just found, most of all being Tails. If he never spoke to her again, then how could she ever find out the possible truth of her own past?

Now at the point of weeping in utter despair at the cruelty fate seemed to have brought down on her yet again, Mysty forcibly hit the tree she was leaning against lightly with her fist. She regretted the impulsive action immediately, however, as the pain of doing so only added to her tears even more. Worried that she might have actually hurt herself by the action, Mysty quickly checked her hand over for any signs of injury. Thankfully, there were none, but Mysty did notice some flakes of dark colored bark littering her white gloves also on loan from Cream. She easily identified the fragments as belonging to an oak tree. _Dark Oak…_ She recalled suddenly as if it had become a mantra, quickly looking up at the surrounding area and realizing where she was. Somehow, in her tears and frantic escape, she must have managed to subconsciously steer towards Tails' house as she now recognized the unmistakable narrow path through the woods leading up the hill to the fox's home. Impulse told her to leave now and not let herself go through another breakdown by following the rest of the trail to his home to confront him, but Mysty overrode her fears once more in determination to know just how Tails felt about her and her occupation. The time had come for her to tell him everything, or at least everything she so far dared to say.

Slowly, she walked up the small woodland pathway until she arrived at Tails' solitary home. The front door stood as her first obstacle, however, forcing Mysty to choose now whether to knock and commit herself to the extremely difficult task, or to have one last chance to turn away now and go back to the city without going through all the pain all over again. Surprisingly, even to herself, Mysty hesitated only a minute before giving the door a quick few raps with the back of her hand. To her astonishment, however, instead of Tails coming to answer the door in response as she prepared to knock again quickly, the door itself actually swung open on its hinges from the light force of her hit. "It was… open?" Mysty spoke to herself in surprise as she could imagine it not being locked, but left partially open as well?

"Hello? Tails… are you here?" the somewhat nervous vixen called softly as she slowly let herself inside the darkened house. There wasn't a light on anywhere as far as she could tell, and the pristine, clean surfaces of the living room and dining room within her sight on the ground floor she entered into looked like no one had been down here ever since Amy had cleaned it yesterday morning. Mysty couldn't help but have a cold shiver creep down her spine at the empty house she found herself in. The normally well lit and cheerful abode seemed now to have completely transformed into a gloomy and dark world of its own, and without so much as one noticeable change from yesterday other than the lighting as far as Mysty could tell, either. The atmosphere inside was just… heavier, like air suddenly weighed twice as much just inside these four walls alone.

As she shivered downstairs in the living room while making these observations, Mysty almost jumped when she suddenly heard sounds from upstairs. It sounded almost like music, turned up a bit loud as well, coming from an upstairs bedroom. It was so loud, in fact, that Mysty was able to actually make out the words from even all the way downstairs.

_Do you ever feel like breakin' down?  
__Do you ever feel out of place?  
__Like somehow you just don't belong,  
__And no one understands you?_

_Do you ever wanna run away?  
__Do you lock yourself in your room?  
__With the radio on, turned up so loud  
__No one hears you screamin'?_

_No, you don't know what it's like,  
__When nothin' feels alright,  
__You don't know what it's like,  
__To be like me…_

_To be hurt.  
__To feel lost.  
__To be left out in the dark.  
__To be kicked,  
__When you're down.  
__To feel like you've been pushed around.  
__To be on the edge of breakin' down,  
__And no one's there to save you.  
__No, you don't know what it's like…_

_Welcome to my life…_

The words surprised Mysty greatly as she heard them playing from the room above. The music was naturally loud with clearly a very rock band type of feel to it which made the song enjoyable, but the lyrics… Mysty almost wondered who could possibly listen to a song that sad. Who could identify with such a strong feeling of loneliness and hurt in just their life alone, besides perhaps herself? That's when Mysty was forced to recall the only person who could possibly be here right now. Quietly, Mysty made her way up the stairs to the door which the music was now coming from as it continued.

_Do you wanna be somebody else?  
__Are you sick of feelin' so left out?  
__Are you desperate to find something more,  
__Before your life is over?_

_Are you stuck inside a world you hate?  
__Are you sick of everyone around?  
__With the big fake smiles and stupid lies,  
__While deep inside you're bleeding?_

_No, you don't know what it's like,  
__When nothin' feels alright,  
__You don't know what it's like,  
__To be like me…_

_To be hurt.  
__To feel lost.  
__To be left out in the dark.  
__To be kicked,  
__When you're down.  
__To feel like you've been pushed around.  
__To be on the edge of breakin' down,  
__And no one's there to save you.  
__No, you don't know what it's like…_

_Welcome to my life…_

By this time, Mysty had just gotten to the door at the end of the upstairs hallway that she recognized to be Tails' room. It was cracked open slightly, allowing her to notice the only light on in the whole house was inside. Curiosity overcame her nerves as she silently walked over to the doorway and gently swung the door open a bit more to widen the crack and peer into the room beyond. What she saw made her freeze in shock and concern as she finally caught sight of the room's occupant. Tails was on the floor by the side of his bed, embracing himself tightly with both his twin tails as he buried his face into their long fur to sop up the endless tears streaming down the kitsune's face. He seemed completely broken down in grief at the moment, which surprised Mysty all the more when the bawling kit suddenly raised his head up from his chest and started singing along to the rest of the song in his loudest voice.

"No one ever lied straight to your face!  
And no one ever stabbed you in the back!  
You might think I'm happy,  
But I'm not gonna be OK!

Everybody always gave you what you wanted!  
You never had to work, it was always there!  
You don't know what it's like!  
What it's like…"

Tails voice suddenly got incredibly soft and almost became lost in his sobs as the music suddenly cut to only a single strumming instrument and the equally soft and emotional voice of the singer.

"To be hurt…  
To feel lost…  
To be left out in the dark…  
To be kicked…  
When you're down…  
To feel like you've been pushed around…"

And, just as suddenly, the full fury of the music and Tails' own emotions erupted through in the middle of the chorus, leaving Mysty almost in tears herself as she could feel the force of Tails' unvented anguish escaping in the words he shouted.

"To be on the edge of breakin' down!  
And no one's there to save you!  
No you don't know what it's like…"

Mysty couldn't stand it anymore. Not only was Tails in more anguish then she'd ever thought imaginable for the kind, happy fox she'd met two days ago, but this song itself sung to her heart as well. The things she had to deal with back in the city… The pain she also felt from her whole life as far as she could even remember… All of it was summated in these lyrics as the vixen began crying again as well and joined in singing the final chorus with the other fox, who instantly noticed in shock the other voice and dropped out himself to stare amazed at the figure in his doorway.

"To be hurt!  
To feel lost!  
To be left out in the dark!  
To be kicked,  
When you're down!  
To feel like you've been pushed around!  
To be on the edge of breaking down,  
And no one's there to save you!  
No you don't know what it's like…

Welcome to my life…"

The singer repeated the last line a few more times as the music ended and both fox's were silent, Mysty just now trying to clear her eyes of tears once more while Tails' watery eyes stayed fixed on her in stunned surprise. "Mysty…? What… what are you doing here?" Tails finally managed to ask as he sniffled from his running nose due to all his crying earlier.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Tails!" Mysty instantly shouted as she realized she still wasn't ready to speak with him about all this right now. "I know that you're not feeling like visitors right now, so I'll just leave…" she quickly tried to excuse herself while turning to walk out the doorway and back down the hallway to the stairs. Whatever was bothering Tails right now had to be something incredibly horrible to make him break down like that, and here she was barging in to talk to him and crying over her own problems! Mysty instantly regretted not having just walked away once she'd reached the front door a second ago as she took her first step to leave quickly.

Something stopped her, however. A hand clasped her shoulder now, feeling gentle and warm if not a good bit wet at the moment however, but it scared Mysty nonetheless and made her jump to turn around quickly and face the person who had touched her.

It was Tails, of course, standing in the doorway she had just started to leave as he looked back at her with eyes still filled with tears but also as caring as ever. "Sorry," Tails quickly apologized at Mysty's frightened response to Tails' sudden touch while he immediately let go. "You don't have to go right now you know, Mysty," Tails spoke in a somewhat broken voice that almost seemed to actually be begging for his unexpected company to stay.

This surprised Mysty more than anything, however, as it tied in directly with her fears and why she'd come here in the first place. "You don't mind that I'm…" Mysty tried to say it herself, but her voice immediately failed her at the final word she'd worked so hard to deny her whole life and just couldn't say for herself.

"No, Mysty. I don't care how many guys you may have slept with or even why you did it; I don't judge people like that. I look at who they really are, and I know you're not a bad person at heart," Tails told her sweetly.

Mysty almost passed out right there in relief and shock. What Tails had said was so perfect, so warm and friendly, Mysty doubted any other words could have possibly made her any happier. It was like a dream, only this time Mysty realized she was still awake and it wouldn't just disappear in a minute like real dreams do. She could think of nothing better to do to show her gratitude as the wave of relief washed over her, and she quickly launched herself onto Tails in a swift hug. Her dislike of proximity to men didn't kick in to make her let go either for a good minute or so as she stood in her embrace of Tails with tears rolling out of her eyes once more, but this time they were tears of joy.

Tails stiffened at Mysty's sudden hug and only stood there rigid until she finally backed away once more. He didn't understand what he'd just done by saying what he did to her a second ago. He'd just given Mysty assurance of one thing she'd never had before, a place where she belonged. He wanted to ask Mysty what her unexplained hug was for, why she was now so happy, and why she seemed so drawn to him if it wasn't for anything romantic, any of those questions, but his mind instead immediately turned elsewhere. The same place it had been all day and the reason for the male fox's grieving and solitude. Despite Mysty's face right in front of him being lit up in joy for the moment, Tails' own quickly began to sag once more. Tears began to fight to be let loose from his already watery eyes yet again as Tails slowly turned away, ashamed to cry in front of someone else.

Mysty couldn't have possibly missed this change in the other fox's behavior, though, even in her momentary outburst of joy, and she quickly dropped the smile from her own face at the realization that now was not a time to be overly excited and happy. "Tails…" Mysty asked cautiously as she heard the yellow furred fox that now had his back to her begin to sob lightly once more. "Are you sad because of Cosmo?" she quickly asked, not sure whether she really needed to be this forward right now or not.

Tails suddenly wheeled around at the mention of the name, staring at Mysty in a way that scared her and caused her to step back by instinct. "How do you know about her?! Did Sonic…?!" Tails began to shout as his emotions swung wildly without his control.

Mysty stood there more than a little frightened at Tails' sudden mood swing, this now reminding her of other times she'd felt safe around someone and was proven horribly wrong. Still, she managed to keep herself composed enough to answer his question out of concern for the troubled fox. "Yes… well, no, really. Sonic just mentioned the people that were lost in the fight with Dark Oak at the party a minute ago, and I remembered you mentioning that name earlier, too, so…" Mysty stumbled over her own thoughts in an attempt to answer Tails as truthfully as possible.

Tails' somewhat wrathful snarl quickly faded as the true fox underneath regained control once more at Mysty's response. No, Sonic hadn't betrayed his trust. He knew better than to assume that in the first place anyways. Besides, it wasn't a secret that was fooling anyone now anyways, Tails presumed. The fact that no one ever saw him on this particular day, his conspicuous absence to the annual celebration party each year because he'd 'forgotten', the obvious puffy red eyes and long shadows under his eyelids he would be seen with tomorrow by everyone he met, all of these made it pretty obvious that Tails still mourned just as bad as ever about Cosmo's loss even after these two whole years had passed. But how could Tails ever move past the pain of what occurred two years ago today? How could he just simply forget everything she meant to him? How could he not have nightmares and visions of him pressing that glaring red button over and over and over in his head? It would never go away, Tails knew that, and so he'd made it a tradition to spend this date's anniversary celebration alone in his sorrows. He knew he didn't have the strength like everyone else to go to a party with all his friends in honor of today without shedding a tear, let alone break down completely like he was doing again now. It hurt him too deeply; more than anyone, including even Sonic, had yet to understand as well.

Mysty realized by Tails' reaction that she was undoubtedly presumed correct in her guess. But the fox she saw weeping before her was not just grieving over the loss of a good friend. He seemed devastated, far worse than the somber crowd back at the party upon Sonic's conclusion to his short speech. Something about this Cosmo affected Tails more than anyone else was by her loss, but Mysty didn't dare ask why. Now wasn't the time for any more talking as Mysty began feeling extremely self conscious just standing there watching Tails' heart figuratively bleed out through his tear ducts and into his soft fur. Sensing it was best, she quietly left the house of the crying fox to find her way back to the others somehow, her joy at having finally found a place in this world to belong dampened by the still pervading thoughts of Tails' deep sorrow. A line of the lyrics to the song she'd just heard at Tails' house came suddenly to mind as she heard Tails shouting it in his own voice still…

"_To be on the edge of breakin' down,  
And no one's there to save you!  
No, you don't know what it's like…_"

For the first time, Mysty wondered if it was possible for someone to have gone through something worse than she had in her own life. Not that she was selfish in thinking her problems were larger than anyone else's, but they typically, up until just now, simply always were. Perhaps it was fitting that Tails of all people would be the only other one to possibly rival her own miserable lifetime of torments. _Tails... _Mysty thought to herself while hugging her extra thick tail closely for support while she wept silently in concern for the broken fox, _quite possibly my only family left in this world…_


	6. Chapter 6: Cosmo's Story

Incest

Well, it's taken longer than I would have liked to get this chapter ready, but it's finally here! A forewarning, however, to anyone that has yet to see the complete third season of Sonic X before reading this since this chapter will contain a great many spoilers from the anime. Don't say I didn't warn you if you read this chapter in particular without seeing the show first. However, if you don't intend to heed this warning, just understand that I'm only highlighting what points from the anime that I need to for the purpose of this story. Anyways, thank you very much for the many reviews from last chapter. I'm becoming aware that the story is not seeming to get very far very fast at the moment (and that my lengthy amount of time between chapter uploads doesn't help much), but I assure you things will only grow better as the story continues. And also as for several of you readers that feel that this story's title is inappropriate (which I can completely understand), all I can say is simply to bear with it until the story itself is over and the reason for the title itself makes better sense.

Now, as for a disclaimer, everyone can pretty much guess that I don't own Sonic, Tails, or any related characters, except for Mystique. After all, if I did, you would be paying to read this story on paperback instead. ;D (yeah, right... nothing like a good dream, huh?)

Chapter 6: Cosmo's Story

Mysty was now just beginning to regret her earlier rush to flee the party with Sonic and friends without giving any heed to where she was heading. Whatever unconscious sense of direction or fate which had led her straight to Tails' house earlier was gone now that she attempted to relocate the field with the lone tree where the others were all gathered still. Quickly feeling lost in the seemingly endless fields, hills, and woods surrounding the area, Mysty even began to wonder if she would find any sign of civilization at all. A feeling made all the more troubling now that she could tell it must be well into the afternoon already which left only a few more hours of good daylight before she might get stuck lost out in this unfamiliar territory alone for the night. She needn't have worried at all, though, as an unexpected rush of wind nearly blew her over followed by a now familiar voice once the high-speed traveler came to a screeching halt.

"Mysty! There ya are! Are you OK?" Sonic quickly asked as he walked up to the lost vixen he'd clearly been searching for already, being careful not to approach too close, however, since he didn't know what her current state of mind might be after her abrupt escape earlier.

"Sonic, thank goodness… I-I'm fine," Mysty answered in a clearly relieved voice to see a person she at least knew fairly well by now just as her mind had begun to give in to worries of being lost all night with no one coming to rescue her.

"Ya sure? 'Cause the way you just ran off a little while ago had us all pretty worried," Sonic asked again to make sure Mysty felt like she had the opportunity now to talk about what had happened back at the party a bit ago.

Mysty, however, seemed almost a bit shocked at Sonic's statement as her face lit up a bit in equal curiosity. "You were all worried… about me?" she asked for clarification of what Sonic had just said since she couldn't imagine that most of the people that had just found out her previous occupation would even care what happened to her now.

"Well… OK, so a couple of us might not have really worried too much… if at all, but that's just Rouge and Amy. Everyone else was pretty concerned when you ran off crying, though," Sonic admitted as he felt bad telling Mysty that some of the people at the party hadn't really cared about her upset departure, not to mention that one of those people happened to be his own wife.

Mysty, however, wasn't very upset by this at all. Rather, she was more shocked at one of the names that weren't on that list that she could have sworn would be. "You mean… Mrs. Vanilla was worried about me, too?" Mysty asked in surprise at how the proper mother rabbit would be anything but disgusted that such Mobian trash had been in her home and influenced her daughter.

"Of course she is, Mysty! She's the one that sent me after ya in the first place," Sonic told the stunned fox as he himself felt just a bit surprised that anyone would assume the kindly mother would be anything but deeply concerned at such an extreme reaction as Mysty's flight from the party earlier.

"But… the others…" Mysty stammered as she tried to understand why Sonic wasn't telling her to get lost, let alone that he had been sent to find her and bring her back because everyone was worried.

"Rouge is just like that to everyone. Ya just gotta learn to get used to her, I guess. And Amy, well, she just doesn't want anything to happen to Tails again," Sonic quickly explained the reasons a couple of the people in the group at the party weren't overly concerned for her safety right now.

"You mean, like Cosmo?" Mysty broke in softly, knowing from the few times she'd heard this name that it was a tentative subject.

Sonic's face grew stunned as a result of this seemingly mind-reading vixen's last question. "How'd ya know about…" Sonic began to ask as Mysty felt a full explanation was now inevitable if she wanted any real answers.

"From your speech at the party. When you mentioned Cosmo everyone went silent and gloomy. And I know that she and Tails must have been close because that's why he wasn't at the party with everyone today," Mysty told Sonic just how much she'd already managed to piece together so far on her own.

"Whoa there! Hold up! How'd you know about her and my little bro bein' together?" Sonic interrogated the obviously well-informed vixen.

"Tails told me, just a minute ago at his place," Mysty begrudgingly answered as she looked down nervously. She could tell by how Sonic now acted that she'd gotten in too deep on something she probably shouldn't have, and she inwardly dreaded the possible consequences of her concerned need to know what exactly was causing the extreme grief she had witnessed from the male fox back at his home earlier.

Luckily for Mystique, however, her last statement didn't send Sonic into a tantrum or even seem to upset the slightly frazzled hedgehog at all. Instead, it seemed to have quite the opposite effect as the blue hedgehog's shocked and mildly upset gestures suddenly ceased in a deep breath. "So, that's where ya went after you ran away from the party earlier then. No wonder it took me till now ta find you…" Sonic almost muttered as he now seemed to settle down into a serious mood seldom witnessed by anyone outside those who knew the blue hero best. "And he didn't chase you out?" Sonic then asked Mysty in a tone more of interest than reprimand.

"No, I just found him upstairs listening to some loud music and crying to himself all alone," Mysty quickly answered Sonic's own curiosity in the most truthful way she could. "Once he saw me, he stopped crying for a minute and talked with me. But, he was still so sad, and, when he started crying again, I… I just left," Mysty recounted the abridged version of what had occurred at the fox's home earlier.

Sonic responded with a short, low whistle as the blue hedgehog stopped his instinctive pacing that he had been doing and decided to take a seat on the grass below, a move that Mysty followed a second later as well since it was apparent that the hedgehog intended for this to be a somewhat lengthy discussion. "Man, usually on days like today even **I** can't get Tails to talk with me," Sonic revealed as he debated to himself just how much Mysty deserved to know without Tails here to give him permission to tell her first. "My little bro must really see something in ya, Mysty. You don't even know just how hard it is for him to get close to anyone now-a-days, but he seems to be happy to have you around all the time," Sonic informed Mysty of the fact whether she already knew it or not.

Mysty only stared at Sonic now in silence, unsure how to respond to his last statement. Should she tell him the truth? The reason she and Tails might have naturally formed a bond between the two of them so quickly? It was only still speculation, she knew, but how many two-tailed foxes like Tails could there be anyways? Before she had to decide on how to break the uneasy silence, however, Sonic managed to thankfully do so for her.

"I guess since ya already talked to my little bro today and already know so much about it anyways, I probably better tell ya the whole story then," Sonic finally decided as he recalled the whole story from the very beginning to retell to the curious vixen. "Cosmo came to Mobius a little over two years ago looking for me to help stop an evil group of powerful plants-turned-robots called the Metarex from taking over the galaxy. She told us that these Metarex were almost invincible and were harvesting the Planet Eggs that each gave life to a whole planet for some scheme or weapon to control the universe, and Cosmo said that I was the only one who could stop them by using the Chaos Emeralds. Unfortunately, the Metarex had already beaten her here and tried to attack Mobius once. Their leader, Dark Oak, fought with me personally and won even after I used the power of the emeralds to become Super Sonic, so I had been forced to scatter them across the galaxy by the time she told us that. Luckily, we still had the Master Emerald which my genius little bro used to power his new, gigantic spaceship to go out and find the Chaos Emeralds before the Metarex could."

"So, Cosmo just came to ask for your help in saving the galaxy from these Metarex?" Mysty asked for the sake of clarifying what this mysterious person's role was in the story so far.

"At first, yeah, but as the trip went on and we found a couple emeralds, Cosmo and Tails seemed to spend a little more time together occasionally. One time they got trapped in an underground Metarex lair together and managed to hack their computers for some valuable data while also rescuing a Chaos Emerald being held there as well before we finally came to save them. I remember Cosmo had even bandaged Tails' head from an injury while they were down there, probably from when he fought off a whole team of Metarex goons to save her. Then there was the time those three goofballs Vector, Charmy, and Espio tried to get him and her together during a party Cosmo had planned as a thank you to all of us for helping her. You really should've seen some of the tricks they tried to pull; it was funnier than Eggman in a skirt! Not to mention that planet we visited where Tails and Cosmo accidentally fell into Amy's trap which was meant for me that was supposed to be a failproof way to get two people to fall in love. Heh heh… Boy, was Amy steamed about that one, though!" Sonic chuckled to himself as he recalled a lot of the good times both he and others had had during their epic adventure through space.

"So, Tails fell in love with Cosmo? That doesn't sound like a good reason for him to be so sad now, though. Does that have anything to do with her sacrifice you mentioned in your speech at the party, too?" Mysty asked as she began to understand more now of some of the things she had only guessed at first.

"Well, yeah, but that's jumpin' to the end quite a bit there," Sonic answered as he tried to hurry to that point now while not missing anything else important Mysty might want to know. "But, yeah, somewhere in there Tails did fall in love with Cosmo. And, I gotta say, I'd never seen him so happy before in my life. Tails may have been too afraid or shy to admit it, but everyone could tell how he and Cosmo felt about each other. That's why when Shadow tried to kill her once or when we found out an implant in her brain was being used by the Metarex to spy on us Tails always protected her with his life. He took blow after blow even when me and Knuckles were already down and out just to save her. Tails was determined never to lose her to anyone, but I guess even he never thought he'd have to save her from her own choice," Sonic paused before getting to the real tragedy which had formed the fox into the crying mass of fur he had been and probably still would remain all day.

"In the final battle with the Metarex, Dark Oak used the power of the Chaos Emeralds and the planet egg to form an indestructible seed-like shell that would explode and wipe out the whole universe. Everything we had wasn't enough to defeat him, until Cosmo suddenly realized what she was supposed to do. She somehow transformed into some giant, beautiful tree that attached to the shell and cut off Dark Oak's power, givin' us one chance to hurt him by firing both me and Shadow at maximum power into Dark Oak's big seed thing. Unfortunately, Tails knew that this meant killing Cosmo in the process, and he was the only one who could pull the trigger," Sonic trailed off as he realized Mysty obviously could understand the rest of the story from there.

Mysty simply stared back at Sonic in horror for a minute as she rewound everything Sonic had just said in that last part again and realized just why Tails was so sad today on the second reunion of that event. "No… He had to kill her? Tails had to kill Cosmo?" Mysty asked Sonic in a desperate hope that something miraculous had worked out in the end and that this whole story was all an extremely elaborate hoax the likes of which she'd never seen.

Much to Mysty's dismay, however, Sonic seemed slow to respond as the hedgehog's face sank to looking at his own feet. "It was the only way, Mysty. He knew he had to, so he did. My little bro had to kill the only woman he's ever loved in order to save us all. She told him that it was what she wanted and that she loved him, but he never got the chance to do the same. Ever since then, Tails just hasn't been Tails anymore. He's gotten a lot better now sometimes, but he's never been as happy again as I remember him being with Cosmo. That's why I'm glad to see him with you now, Mysty. It makes me hope that the happy young kit I once knew might still come back one day."

Mysty was at a complete loss for words now, faced both with the hedgehog's honest and heartfelt concern and the finally complete tale of what had caused Tails so much grief to be as sorrowful as she'd seen him today. "I… I can't…" she stuttered as even she wondered just what she was trying to say at the moment and eventually gave up and wiped her tear-filled eyes in silence for a while. "I… I didn't know…" she finally managed to say as she understood now how Cosmo's sacrifice had such a sobering effect on all those who were there two years ago, especially Tails.

"It's OK, Myst," Sonic slowly moved to gently pat her back in condolence while also unveiling his new shorthand name for her, something he only bothered to do for very few people he knew.

Surprisingly, Mysty neither cringed nor moved away abruptly at Sonic's comforting touch like she normally might. In her current mood of disbelief and sympathy for Tails' loss, Mysty actually welcomed the friendly contact, although she didn't let it last too long before breaking away from the hedgehog's reach once more by instinct while wiping away the last of her tears with her hands that still wore the white gloves on loan from Cream. Looking now at the mildly soiled white gloves, Mysty was finally reminded once more of the other concerned Mobians she had abandoned earlier. "Tails, you, Mrs. Vanilla… you're all so kind to me despite your own problems. But, why?" Mysty couldn't help but outright ask as she had never received such widespread hospitality from anyone before in her entire lifetime as she could remember it.

Sonic's response to Mysty's big question, however, was a simple shrug of his shoulders. "Dunno. Why do I always feel like I gotta fight Eggman and put my life in danger to save some people who I don't even know? I don't need to know why; I just do it. Sounds good enough for me at least," Sonic answered truthfully as he gave a comforting wide grin to Mysty and proceeded to stand back up once more. "Well, party's over by now, I bet," Sonic changed the conversation as he noticed the sky above becoming more and more orange in hue as the evening sun lowered towards the horizon and the seemingly endless ocean off the coast of the Mystic Ruins. "Want me to take ya to Mrs. Vanilla's now?" Sonic offered, knowing full well that Mysty was too new to the area to recall how to get there on her own just yet.

With a slightly eager nod, Mysty quickly stood up on her own to follow the blue hedgehog back to her temporary home at the rabbit's residence. The whole trip back she was thinking over all the dramatic events and news she'd experienced just today and contemplated how she could respond to Mrs. Vanilla and Cream's questions once she got back as well.

Meanwhile, Sonic, despite his previous conversation with Mysty and his best mental discipline, could only think about how slowly the vixen he was escorting seemed to be able to walk.

* * *

"I don't understand, Doctor. You've been working on this newest robot of yours for weeks, so why didn't you use it today once it was finally completed?" the tall, slender, golden robot asked his master from beside the chair the overweight human was currently slouched down in like a makeshift bed.

The reclining figure seemed to grumble incoherently in annoyance at the disruption before finally finding the words to answer the posed query, albeit still very reluctantly as was evident in the tone of his voice. "Because today simply wasn't a good day for that, Decoe," Eggman offered the vague response as he hoped to avoid any further disturbances with the short explanation.

However, Eggman clearly designed his assistants' curiosity chips quite well since it took no less than a second for another robotic voice to chime in once more. "But, how so, Doctor? Would not today have been the perfect day to attack since Sonic and all his friends were all together in one spot?" Bocoe, the smaller and squatter silver robotic assistant asked.

"Of course not! My newest robot couldn't possibly take on all of them at once, you know that," Eggman offered as a rebuff while sitting upright in his chair after sensing that this conversation would probably need to continue for at least the next few minutes until he could rest again.

"But, we knew where they were going to be, too! It could have been a trap or something we prepared a long time ago so that today we finally won!" the small, black, and highly energetic hovering robot named Bokkun mentioned as it especially seemed rather bored of the recent inactivity of chaos he'd been involved in.

Eggman, despite his more than impressive IQ, spent several minutes in vain search of an argument to counter Bokkun's suggestion before finally answering in the only way he seemed able to at the moment. "Perhaps, but, like I said before, it just wasn't a good day. You can't expect me not to trust my highly tuned instincts after so long now, could you?" Eggman offered the weak argument which only worked seeing as they were his assistants after all and not in a position to argue the point. At least, they shouldn't have been except for the fact that they had all gotten rather used to such things enough to allow for criticism most robotic slaves would never utter to their master for fear of being dismantled.

"Yeah, I bet those are the same instincts that have helped us catch Sonic and his friends all along, too…" the small floating robot dared to mutter in annoyance.

"What was that, you flying scrap heap?! Are you doubting my ability to beat that annoying hedgehog and his friends whenever I want to?" Eggman yelled slightly as his irritation at being spammed with questions now turned to open anger at the rebellious robot.

"Well, we haven't beaten him yet, have we?" Bokkun saucily replied as his facial expression clearly denoted that the miniature robot felt rather full of himself for such a stinging comeback. Bocoe and Decoe, however, recognized the line their companion had just crossed and instinctively stepped back away from their master to avoid any accidental damage to themselves as a result of what would be coming next.

"Is that so? Well, you know that my instincts are also telling me something else now as well, Bokkun… They're telling me that you would make an excellent toaster oven!" Eggman shouted as he then leapt from his seat and began chasing the flying robot around the room with surprising speed and agility for his size.

Eventually, after dodging countless failed grabs by his master and shouting numerous apologies over his shoulder while continuing to fly just out of Eggman's reach, Bokkun was spared when a tired Eggman finally gave up the chase. Still, as an additional precaution, Bokkun now noticeably hovered much further from his master's chair than before while another of the three robots took the opportunity to inquire further.

"But, Doctor, why would today be any less likely for a trap to succeed than any others?" Bocoe brought the question back up in hopes of a more satisfying answer.

"Because today is the second anniversary of when we defeated the Metarex and saved the universe, don't you rust-buckets remember?!" Eggman finally answered truthfully as he was now thoroughly annoyed at trying to find excuses to hide his true reasoning.

"Yes, but, why does that matter, Doctor?" Decoe asked for clarification as none of the three robots' processors were able to comprehend how that made today a bad day for an attack, if indeed it didn't actually make it a good day because of the chance Sonic and friends would have their guard down.

"Why does it matter?! Nothing could possibly matter more! I suppose that your mechanical brains can't comprehend this point, but that event two years ago made an unspoken agreement between us all. It was that today would be remembered and celebrated in memory of those lost to the Metarex. I suppose that makes today what some might call sacred, and, since we lost one of our own in the battle to stop them just as Sonic and his friends did also, I'm obligated to honor that agreement." Eggman finally laid out the full truth to his assistants despite hating to admit that the reason he never took advantage of today as a golden opportunity was due to dogmatic morals in his own mind.

"Wait, Doctor, are you saying that you refused to do anything today because of Shadow?" Decoe quickly chimed in, his voice seeming to sound as if the robot was in disbelief at the truth he'd just heard.

Eggman let out a low grunt under his breath before responding again in a calm, distant tone. "Yes, Decoe, that's precisely the point. I may have only ever used Shadow to attempt to reach my own ends before, but he was still a part of my grandfather that I now no longer have. His memory and sacrifice is worth one day of peace for Mobius, I'd imagine, but that doesn't rule out tomorrow…" Eggman finished with a crooked smile growing quickly across his face. Upon seeing this, Bokkun rejoiced and flew around shouting in excitement while Decoe and Bocoe shared with each other a nervous look of doubt.


	7. Chapter 7: Budding from the Ashes

Incest

Yes, at long last, it is finally a new update for this story! And, even better on my part, nobody I knew died in between the last chapter and this one! (Sorry if that's morbid, but it's almost become a recurring theme this past year unfortunately...)

Anyways, you wouldn't believe how long and hard I had to think about this story before I could even start writing this new chapter. So many changes and important events are coming up in this and future chapters that I literally had to outline the story's entire plotline to make sure I didn't screw up with anything as I wrote. But, that just makes it all the better for you readers, though! ;) I will apologize, though, for the sappy title to this chapter. If it doesn't make sense to you after reading this, though, don't worry about it. It's not too important. Now, enjoy this nice, long chapter I worked so hard on just for you! Yes, that's right... **you.**

Disclaimer: I still don't own Sonic, Tails, or any of that official stuff. Yep, it's true; Sega is being pretty stubborn. But, they don't own Mysty either, so I still have a bargaining chip I hope. XD

Chapter 7: Budding from the Ashes

Mysty breathed deeply in the crisp, pleasant noon air as she walked up the now familiar path through the woods towards Tails' house. Thanks to some good directions and a growing sense of familiarity with the surrounding area, Mysty actually found the short hike calming and enjoyable, a welcome relief after yesterday's events. Luckily, she'd also been just as relieved last night as well once Sonic had taken her home to Mrs. Vanilla's safe and sound, especially upon finding herself welcomed back with open and concerned arms despite the horrible revelation at the party just earlier that day. Cream had still been obviously very curious and full of questions to ask Mysty, but kept them to herself due to a no doubt strong warning Mrs. Vanilla had probably given her before now. As for the mother rabbit herself, if she'd even heard about Mysty's past occupation at all once she'd ran off from the small gathering, which she surely did from somebody present at least, Vanilla's expression and hospitality had never shown it. The mother rabbit had simply fed her a good, hot meal and sent the still slightly emotional fox upstairs to bed, promising things would feel better in the morning.

_And why does it seem Mrs. Vanilla is always right, too?_ Mysty thought as she truly did feel much more stable today, at least as far as her emotions where concerned. Her deplorable past had been revealed, true, but she hadn't been immediately tossed out, either. She didn't particularly understand why still, but Tails, Sonic, and everyone seemed to still love her despite what she was, a feeling she'd truly never experienced before on the cold, hard streets of the alley she'd once called home. She hadn't been sure where to go from here, though, until once again the lovely maternal rabbit came to her rescue by suggesting she go check on Tails for her today and see if the heartbroken fox was feeling any better after yesterday's endless memories and sorrow, though not quite in those exact words, of course.

So Mysty now found herself at the doorstep of Tails' house once again and gave the solid wood door a few quick knocks. To her surprise, for the second time the door merely swung open at her soft knocking. Stepping into the darkened house once again, Mysty seemed to recall nothing as being different from when she'd intruded into Tails' home yesterday during the middle of his grieving. Worried that this meant Tails might still be exactly the way she'd found him the day before, Mysty hurried upstairs to check the male fox's small room for signs of the absent kitsune.

Like before, the door to Tails' room stood open halfway, but the inside this time was dark save for the light coming in from the room's small window across from the fox's unmade bed. Confused, Mysty slowly and delicately searched the other rooms of the house for the wayward fox, finally coming to the conclusion that Tails simply wasn't home. A bit saddened and concerned for Tails now, Mysty closed the front door behind her as she left the male fox's house and prepared to hike back to Mrs. Vanilla's with the news.

Just as she started to walk away, though, Mysty's gaze happened to spot the hangar structure just off of the main house that Tails had parked the X-Tornado in once they'd first arrived at his home a couple days ago. _Of course!_ Mysty thought with a bit of renewed excitement as she hurried over to the unchecked structure, sure that she'd likely find the missing fox working on something inside.

Opening the door, however, proved just as disheartening. Inside, the workshop was dark and uninhabited. The X-Tornado sat precisely where Tails had left it a couple days ago, and there was no sign that the male fox had even touched it since then either. Just about to leave once more, though, Mysty's large triangular ears caught the faintest sound of something unusual coming from the workshop. It sounded like a constant hiss, yet at moments almost lost in the punctuated popping noises also produced. It was greatly muffled, though, and seemed to originate from somewhere lower than the actual floor she stood on now. Confused, Mysty started to check around the walls of the hangar for perhaps some door that she'd never noticed before to some secret stairwell or anything of the sort when her hand briefly fell upon a short lever. Immediately, her accidental touch activated a well disguised lift that began lowering the portion of floor she was standing on into an underground elevator shaft.

Scared at being so suddenly trapped in an enclosed space without warning, Mysty naturally stepped to the center of the elevator car and held herself in fright, wondering what she'd just gotten herself into this time. Luckily, nothing else about the elevator ride seemed overly sinister as it finally halted a minute later and some automatic doors opened up to show Mysty a sight she could have never been prepared for.

Somehow, below the entire wooded mountain Tails lived on, the fox had constructed a monstrous, impossibly huge hangar, which, to Mysty's even further amazement, was also almost completely filled by an equally impressive in size giant, metallic ship. The mammoth vessel, marked as the Blue Typhoon on its sides, seemed to resemble most closely an aircraft carrier crossed with a jet fighter, and it seemed more than large enough for a small population to fit inside and live comfortably as well. The beauty of the wondrous creation was marred heavily, though, by numerous burnt, twisted, broken, and otherwise destroyed sections throughout the hull, which only begged Mysty's imagination to think of something that could possibly do so much damage to a ship of this size in the first place. A shower of sparks from the side of the giant vessel at what must have been nearly a quarter of a mile distant from where she now stood finally caught Mysty's wandering attention from the spectacle in front of her to the figure manipulating a welding torch at the open lip to one of the large holes in the damaged ship's lower hull. Two tails swishing carefully to one side of the distant figure to avoid the showering sparks instantly excited Mysty as she knew she'd finally found the individual she'd been looking for. In order to cover the distance without taking over ten minutes, though, Mysty broke into a jog to go greet the working fox.

Tails, meanwhile, stared through the tinted glass of his welding goggles as he carefully led the torch across mutilated sections of steel and infrastructure, cutting the twisted and compromised components away so he could replace them with new ones to patch the large hole caused by one of the Metarex dragon tentacles piercing the vessel at this spot two years ago yesterday. It was a painstaking process to say the least, one he'd already completed for several other similar sections of the Blue Typhoon already, and many times Tails wondered how the ship had even made the trip back to Mobius safely in this condition after that final epic battle had been concluded. How he'd managed to build this giant monstrosity in just under six months before also shocked the busy fox as it was now over two years and he still was only around halfway done restoring it from the beating it took out in space. True, he only worked on the Blue Typhoon for a day or so a week now, though, instead of every waking moment back then, but the project still seemed like it would never be completed. Then again, what would he do once it was anyways? Before the gloomy mood this line of thinking was leading Tails towards could take hold, however, he heard someone shouting his name over the noise of his lit welding torch.

"Huh?" Tails responded curiously as he pulled the torch away from its current path through a metal beam and looked over to the source of the noise. Seeing someone approaching at a jog now, Tails quickly killed the gas to shut off his torch and moved his goggles up to his forehead so his eyes were unhindered to greet the unexpected visitor. "Mysty?! How did you get down here?!" Tails asked in amazement and surprise as the female fox finally came to a halt in front of him, panting slightly at the deceptively long distance she'd just traveled.

"I… was looking for you," Mysty replied, slightly out of breath still for the moment. "Your house and workshop were both dark, but I heard noises echoing from down here and somehow bumped into an elevator by accident, I think," Mysty explained, not really sure how she'd managed to find this secret location herself either.

Tails just laughed light-heartedly for a bit at the confused expression on Mysty's face while she tried to explain her search for the elusive fox so far today. "I guess you must be pretty lucky like me, then," Tails reasoned as he doubted from what Mysty was saying that anyone had informed her of this massive underground hangar or the elevator in his garage yet.

"Maybe," Mysty hesitantly agreed as she looked up once more at the impressive vessel towering over them right now. "Tails, did you… make this all on your own?" she asked impulsively, the sheer magnitude of the creation striking her as unbelievable.

"Actually, yeah…" Tails truthfully answered while holding a hand back behind his head in mild embarrassment. "I know it looks really big, but it wasn't that hard really because of the tools I had and all," Tails tried to play down his role in such an incredible one-man construction project.

"Don't say that, Tails!" Mysty objected as she witnessed the male fox trying to deny credit for his greatest creation. "Look at this thing! One person building something like this on their own is something to really be proud of!" Mysty stated as she was still lost in the fact that this one male fox alone **could** make something so gigantic and elegant without any help. The size and complexity of the project just made a one-man construction crew sound completely ridiculous.

"Well, yeah, I guess you're right, Mysty," Tails reluctantly agreed as he never really enjoyed having someone sing his praises, even if he truly deserved it. "I'm just sad that you couldn't have seen her when the Blue Typhoon first took off on our adventure into space two years ago. She's all torn up now…" Tails admitted as he remembered the former glory of the now junked space vessel back when he was its captain.

"Does it still work, though?" Mysty had to ask as she was still intrigued at the massive behemoth Tails had created and now kept secret underneath his entire hillside that he called home.

"Not really," Tails answered, a bit of sadness leaking into his voice as he acknowledged the figurative death of his largest creation. "It took a lot of power to operate, so we had to use the Master Emerald just to get it to take off. But, once the Master Emerald shattered in our last fight and Knuckles took all the pieces back to Angel Island again so it would heal itself, there's never been enough power to turn it on again."

"That's sad," Mysty sympathized with Tails as she also considered it a shame that the Blue Typhoon likely would never fly again.

"It's OK, really," Tails countered Mysty's sympathy as he noticed she was trying to say things just to cheer him up. "She's too beat up to go anywhere now anyways. Plus, I doubt we'll need to be going on another adventure into space anytime soon, either," Tails reasoned as he demonstrated that fixing the aging and broken ship was more a mindless hobby for him than anything else.

A minute of silence passed as Mysty thought about how to reply and the conversation temporarily stalled. Finally, deciding that she should say something rather than have the two of them stare at each other endlessly, Mysty thought of an idea. "Could you maybe… show me the inside?" Mysty asked, not knowing what else to do if she was to be spending time with Tails right now.

"You want a tour? Well, OK, I guess," Tails accepted, seeming to be a bit enthused that Mysty showed so much interest in his work. "Just let me put this stuff away real quick," Tails told the eager vixen as he finally removed the goggles from his head completely and grabbed the unlit welding torch from the ground where he'd dropped it to hang both securely on his mobile welding unit. It was only now that Mysty first noticed the dark rings around Tails' eyes and slightly red cheeks Sonic had predicted on the otherwise perfectly normal behaving fox which betrayed the lingering extent of yesterday's sorrow. She tried to ignore the tell-tale signs, however, not wanting to bring back memories to the fox which he probably didn't want to go through again today as well.

"I guess we can just start here," Tails spoke as he turned back around from depositing his equipment to begin his tour. "Right through this big hole leads to the engine room where we had the Master Emerald powering the ship. You want a hand getting up there? Some of this steel is kinda sharp still," Tails offered as he intended to simply enter the ship through the giant hole in its hull he'd been working on seconds ago.

"I… Yes, I suppose," Mysty accepted the aid as she looked at the jagged and twisted metal along the edges of the opening and figured that she didn't really want to cut herself on any of that right now.

"OK, then just relax and hold still," Tails spoke calmly as he grabbed Mysty gently around her waist, an action that made her involuntarily jump in surprise, and proceeded to lift off using his spinning tails while holding on to her securely. Seconds later, Tails landed them safely beyond the dangerous opening in the ship's broken hull and let go, noticing that Mysty was now quaking in fear with her eyes clamped closed. "Sorry…" Tails apologized as he knew his contact with her had caused Mysty's great discomfort.

"No, it's… I'm OK, Tails," Mysty slowly responded as she willed herself to stop shaking and looked back up at the other fox gratefully. "I'll get over it; I promise," she stated as her frightened reactions to another person's touch, particularly males, now embarrassed her when she was just around Tails or his friends.

"Don't worry about it, Mysty. I think I understand," Tails reassured her as he then pointed to lead the way further down the long hallway into the expansive engine room of the Blue Typhoon. "You see, the Master Emerald went right there, and you could control its power and stuff from that observation post over there above it," Tails explained as he pointed out the important features in the room while Mysty looked on.

"But, where did you control the ship from?" Mysty eventually asked once she thought Tails was done with his explanation of the crucial engine room.

"Oh, that would be the bridge at the top of the Blue Typhoon's tower," Tails answered quickly. "Unfortunately, it got pretty destroyed in our last battle, and I haven't gotten to fixing it quite yet…" Tails explained as he scratched the back of his head again in slight embarrassment at the small oversight.

"Well, that's OK, then," Mysty responded, truthfully a bit disappointed as she'd have loved to have seen the nerve center of the ship where all the action and critical decision making took place.

Sensing her disappointment, however, Tails quickly offered Mystique an alternative. "But, there's always the secondary bridge we used once the first one got destroyed," Tails offered.

"Could we go there, then, Tails?" Mysty asked in an excited voice, happy that she might get to see what she wanted after all.

"Umm… Yeah, sure, why not?" Tails agreed as the two left the engine room and crossed the ship and up several decks to a lower portion of the Blue Typhoon's raised tower and into a barren room.

Mysty walked in and was confused, however, at the absence of any computers, controls, or displays of any kind in the blank white room. "How can you pilot a ship from a room like this?" Mysty asked Tails once she finally gave up on figuring it out herself.

"Heh, you're not the first one to ask that question, Mysty," Tails chuckled as he pressed a button near the door to the room and controls, workstations, and computer displays all popped out of rotating panels in the floor and walls of the room to reveal the backup operations center for the Blue Typhoon.

"That's incredible!" Mysty exclaimed as she only grew more impressed with Tails' ingenuity in designing this massive ship. A blank room that could convert into a pop-up ship's bridge in times of emergency proved not only Tails' creativity in designing the impressive vessel, but also his skill at having all this work flawlessly as well. "Was that your chair, Tails?" Mysty pointed out as she came closer to him in the back of the room and approached the most prominent and complex looking station in the center just against the far wall.

"Yep, that's it," Tails responded in a strangely flat tone, almost as if he despised the location greatly. Staring down at the controls, Tails momentarily saw himself sitting in them… Tears streamed down his eyes as Eggman's voice shouted to him over the intercom. Her voice inside his head, telling him to shoot… The final muttered 'I love you' he managed to say… And, finally, Tails' eyes settled on the small red button sitting atop the right hand controls. Craning his gaze up from the chair and its controls, Tails saw outside to the middle of the ship's runway and to the ruins of the Sonic Driver, the massive cannon that he'd overloaded with that one final shot…

Tearing his watery gaze away quickly from the almost overbearing force that held his eyes to the demolished structure directly outside the forward window, Tails turned abruptly for the door. Mysty, witnessing this suddenly, immediately followed Tails out into the hallway in concern. "Tails… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…" Mysty began to apologize for the insensitive request of hers which had led to forcing the heartbroken fox to relive old memories once again.

"Don't be sorry, Mysty. It's… really just my fault. I'll be fine," Tails interrupted as he began walking off down the hallway.

Not sure if following the clearly troubled fox was a good idea or not, Mysty still fell in line several steps behind Tails as he walked off. After all, she didn't feel like getting herself lost in this maze of a spaceship, either, and surely Tails would understand that even if he was trying to be alone. To her surprise, however, Tails ended up stopping just around a corner after only a short walk down a few levels back into the ship's main structure.

"Here, Mysty, this is the dining room," Tails spoke as he tried still to recompose himself and continue the tour by opening the door and walking inside. Mysty obediently followed after and glanced around, seeing tables and chairs, a small stage for entertainment, and two large windows on one wall that would have looked out into space when the Blue Typhoon was in flight.

"It's pretty," Mysty hesitantly spoke as she hoped not to upset the emotional fox any further by accident. "I bet the view from those windows was beautiful when you where in space, too," Mysty imagined.

Tails' mind suddenly flashed back to a familiar scene as he gazed over to the windows blankly after Mysty's comment…

"_Oh, I almost forgot! Here, Cosmo, you dropped this earlier, so I cleaned it up and polished it for ya," a shy fox spoke as he handed a small floral broach to the Seedrian beside him where the two stood alone at the window._

"_Oh, Tails! Thank you! I'm so happy to have friends like you! But you've been so busy helping me and fixing Vector's ship…" Cosmo responded as she accepted the gift into her hands with a beaming smile full of gratitude._

"_Heh, heh… It was no trouble, honest," the clearly uncomfortable but pleased fox stated as he shifted his gaze outside to the floating stars surrounding them, working up the courage inside to say what he always wanted to until the words started as if on their own. "You're so beautif... Ah!"_ _the embarrassed fox cut himself off with both hands immediately clamping his mouth shut as he realized what he was about to say._

"_Yes, they are all so beautiful, aren't they, Tails?" Cosmo answered back, clearly misinterpreting Tails' remark to be about the starry horizon outside the window instead of what he'd really meant. "That's why I'm so proud to help you and your friends save them all from those Metarex," Cosmo added as her resolve shone through as brightly as any of the points of light outside the window at that very moment._

_The heavily embarrassed fox blushed profusely as he reached far behind his head with one hand in both relief and discomfort at the same time. "Yeah, me too," he responded sheepishly, feeling like he'd just caught a lucky break after almost admitting his growing feelings for the girl beside him…_

"Tails? Tails?!" Mysty calmly raised her voice in concern as the male fox beside her stood rigidly frozen in place, his eyes seeming to view something that wasn't there. Luckily, her calling snapped the two-tailed fox back to consciousness as Tails shook his head momentarily to chase the memory out of his mind. "I… I think I've had enough of a tour now, Tails," Mysty spoke up as she realized that being inside the vessel was causing a considerable negative impact on him. So much so that Mysty no longer thought that her idea of a tour was really that good of an idea after all.

"O-OK," Tails shakily replied as he slowly lead the way out of the room and down to a hatch that opened near the front of the ship. Both fox's were eerily silent as they traveled, one too lost in his own emotions to speak and the other unsure of what to say to help the other.

Finally working up the courage to speak directly once they were both outside in the massive artificial underground chamber, Mysty turned back to the still shaken Tails to speak tentatively. "Tails, I'm really sorry. I know what you went through with Cosmo, and I shouldn't have made you go through all this the day after…" she began as Tails again cut her off with his own remarkably soft voice.

"No, it's OK, Mysty… It's just that, I loved her…" Tails muttered as his eyes watered up while he tried to hide them behind his balled up fists. "I just… I don't know how I could ever find someone like her again. Cosmo was just so… perfect. I was so sure of it…" Tails mumbled as the fox began to break down in front of Mysty despite all his efforts to avoid crying any more today.

"Tails…" Mysty started to speak herself, but words failed her as she doubted anything she could come up with to say would actually help.

"But… you know the weirdest thing?" Tails asked as he unexpectedly looked up at Mysty's own eyes and lowered his hands from his face to make direct contact, "Is that… you… remind me of her a lot, Mysty," Tails told the female fox blankly as he saw no reason to keep it a secret from her how he felt.

"I… understand," Mysty muttered back now, the confusion in her voice showing just how oxymoronic her statement was. "I'll leave then. I'll go back to the city where I belong so you won't be reminded of Cosmo all the time and be so sad," Mysty hesitantly resolved, willing to actually carry out her promise should it actually assist the grieving fox in any way.

"NO!" Tails immediately shouted loud enough for Mysty to jump in fright as soon as she finished. "Please, don't leave, Mysty! When I'm around you… it's… it's like I have a bit of her still here for me to hang on to. More than just a dumb flower from a seed… Please, I want you to stay," Tails begged, the broken down fox almost literally on his knees in his sudden grief.

Mysty stared at the sorry sight in shock. Someone as strong hearted as Tails, who'd gone through so much on his own already, needed **her** to help **him**? Maybe what he was saying was just from the impulse of the moment, the endless, unchanneled grief Tails felt that he still couldn't manage. Perhaps he really didn't feel for her as strongly as he now claimed. But, either way, Mysty was convinced to stay. Truth be told, her life before was no better than Tails', even if she couldn't account for all of it still. They needed each other, at least for this moment. "I won't go anywhere, Tails," Mysty finally answered softly as she kneeled down beside the crying fox and, despite her shyness about physical contact with males, allowed him to cry on her shoulder as Tails relieved himself of his emotions the only way he knew how anymore.

* * *

Hours passed into the afternoon as Tails calmed and told Mysty countless stories about times he'd spent with Cosmo, bearing his soul to the sensitive vixen as far as she would let him. Mysty, for her part, took interest in the stories Tails told her. It wasn't like some childish jock that couldn't stop talking about something they loved about their latest ex; Tails' stories were more deeply born, revealing things about the true nature of the torn fox which Mysty always wanted to understand ever since finding him, or rather him finding her, a couple days ago. By the time Tails had finally concluded, Mysty truly understood the source of his endless grief concerning Cosmo. After all, it very well was that he had been forced to murder the only one he'd ever truly loved. It would be one thing to lose someone you loved or to know that you were guilty of killing an individual yourself, but both of those together? Honestly, Mysty wondered why Tails wasn't always like he was now, broken down and sobbing constantly, or worse. She tried to understand what could possibly keep the fox going after all this heartache, that same force she knew also drove the reason for her own existence as well this far. Sadly, such questions seemed too deep to answer in one sitting, and all too soon Tails had fully recovered and led her back up in the elevator to his workshop's ground level once more.

"Thanks, Mysty… for everything," Tails gratefully told the somehow endlessly patient vixen who had stayed to comfort him the whole afternoon.

"No, thank you for sharing everything with me, Tails. I understand much better now," Mysty answered back as she surprised the male fox by gently sliding her hand into his.

Tails' white muzzle lit up quickly in a velvet blush for a second at the unanticipated contact as he let out a nervous chuckle. "So, uhh… Are ya hungry yet, Mysty?" Tails asked, partly to cover his embarrassment while the two found something else to do together for now.

Mysty's response, whatever it would be, was cut off by a rush of wind and a blue streak which entered the workshop from the open runway outside and came to a halt in front of the two fox's as a pink figure climbed down carefully from the blue one's arms. "Hey, bro! We got some real trouble goin' on back in the city! Looks like Eggman just came back out of retirement with one mean machine that's startin' to…" Sonic gave a rapid update of the emergency situation at a speed rivaled only by his feet until he awkwardly paused upon finally noticing the hands being shared between the two foxes in front of him. "Umm… Did we come at a bad time, little bro?" Sonic comically asked as the expression on his face betrayed multiple levels of confusion at the same time.

Mysty and Tails, both suddenly aware of the other's hand they had been holding for only a second now, immediately let go of each other as if their gloves where both scalding hot stovetops and each blushed slightly at having been caught in the unusual position of the moment. "No, Sonic," Tails finally interjected after a long enough pause to be just a little too long. "I… was just about to lead Mysty back up to the house for a bite to eat," Tails gave the truth, if not worded somewhat carefully so as not to arouse any more suspicion than might be justified.

"Really? And she can't follow you without holding hands because suddenly she's gone blind or something too, Hmm?" Amy interjected vehemently as her and Sonic's unfortunate timing at that exact moment only had risen her suspicions of the two spending time together alone at all.

"Amy!" Sonic shouted to his shrewd sounding wife in disgust. However, Sonic realized a second later that his outburst had only lead to all the attention instantly focusing back on him for an explanation to his scolding, especially by reading Amy's expression which told Sonic if he didn't have a really good reason for yelling at her this time he was going to get a mallet to the face in a matter of seconds. "Uhh… I mean, can't we talk about this later? Eggman's tearin' up the city, remember?!" Sonic brought the urgent reason for his sudden arrival to everyone's attention once more, thankfully saving himself from his potentially painful mistake in the process as well.

Tails was going to make a remark now about why Sonic had to bring Amy along if that was the real reason for his urgent visit, but, knowing the pink hedgehog as well as he did over the years spent around her, Tails figured Sonic probably had been given no choice in the matter of bringing her along either. "OK, we'll load up on the X-Tornado!" Tails dismissed the tense civil dispute for the good of saving those in more immediate danger back at the city where Eggman was attacking. Rushing over to the jet nearby, Tails immediately popped the forward cockpit canopy open and dove into his seat feet-first, starting up the engine and pre-flight checklist rapidly thanks to years of practice turning the process into instinct.

Amy and Sonic, also well versed in the rapid response mode by now, quickly took their appointed positions on the plane as well, Sonic standing on the root of the X-Tornado's tailfin just behind the second raised canopy and Amy in the forward seat of the second cockpit at the reserve controls built in should something happen to incapacitate the aircraft's pilot. Mysty, however, just stared blankly up at the X-Tornado in bewilderment as the craft's engines slowly cycled up with a growing aeronautical whine.

"What'cha just standing around for?!" Amy shouted to the unsure fox as she closed her own cockpit to be ready for takeoff, hoping that they wouldn't waste any time with the indecisive vixen when Eggman was already on the rampage.

"Am I coming with you?" Mysty asked in a normal voice that could barely be heard over the jet engines.

"Of course, Mysty! Why would we leave you here all alone?" Tails shouted back so the female fox could hear. "Hurry up and climb in behind me!" Tails rushed the still stunned fox by waving his arm quickly to the seat behind him in the forward cockpit.

Finally getting the idea that she was invited along, Mysty tried to hurry up the side of the aircraft and eventually into the open chair behind Tails, although it took the unpracticed vixen almost two whole minutes to finally be in place and ready. "OK, come on, Tails! Punch it!" Sonic shouted from the outside of the plane, eager to get some high velocity wind in his face.

Tails immediately obliged, shoving the throttle full forward as the runway and mechanically tilted fake palm trees rushed by in a blur before the jet was airborne. Climbing to a high altitude, Tails then aimed the X-Tornado straight towards Central City on the horizon and activated the Chaos Emerald enhanced afterburners, making the sleek fighter no more than a streak of light in the sky as it accelerated to maximum.

Mysty sat pinned down into her seat by the G-forces of supersonic flight, whimpering a bit to herself as the extreme speed scared her more than the excitement of the moment actually encouraged her, leaving Tails to overhear a muffled cry and turn around for a second to check on the frightened vixen behind him. "Don't worry, Mysty, everything's fine! I guess I just forgot to warn you that it's always scary the first time," Tails reassured her, now remembering to himself that he'd kept the speed much lower the first time he had transported the shy vixen in his fighter. Tails quickly throttled down now, though, as the X-Tornado streaked into the edge of the cityscape.

"There it is, Tails!" Amy's voice came over a headset to the front cockpit as Tails looked down to the direction the pink hedgehog in the cockpit behind him was pointing. Sure enough, down in the streets below a giant, dragon-like robot was crushing cars, buildings, and sending hundreds of frightened Mobians scurrying away for their lives.

"OK, Sonic, I'll try a straight forward assault!" Tails made sure the hedgehog on the plane's roof understood as the ace fox pilot banked the jet fighter sharply and dove down between the buildings to near street-level on a path directly towards the enemy robot. As the distance closed between the two machines, Tails let out a short round of high-caliber fire from his forward mounted guns, but wasn't too surprised when it seemed to have little or no effect on the giant wyvern-headed robot's thick armor. After years of fighting with Eggman, Tails knew that every creation he made was first and foremost almost entirely bullet-proof, if not stronger. However, the failure of Tails' initial attack told Sonic that it would be his turn as the blue hedgehog got into a ready position while Tails quickly pulled up out of his current collision course with the gigantic robot down the narrow street.

Just when the X-Tornado started to pass over the robotic monstrosity's head, Tails pressed a familiar button which ejected a glowing golden ring from the fighter's cannon and down towards the enemy robot. Seeing his cue, Sonic finally leapt off the back of the speeding jet, grabbed the glowing item in freefall, and used its strange power to curl up into an intense spinning blue buzz saw in midair, using the momentum of the X-Tornado's speed as well to send him right into the metal monster with remarkable force. Seconds later, all that could be seen of Sonic was a hole leading clean through the top to the bottom of the giant robot as the several story creation began falling apart in large pieces while small explosions blasted away most of its components, leaving only a pile of junk and twisted metal where the attacking robotic menace once stood.

Landing nearby where Sonic stood now observing his handiwork, safe and sound, Tails shut down the X-Tornado's engines while turning to help Mysty get out as Amy expertly hopped down from the other cockpit and rushed her husband with a large hug. "Oh, Sonic! I knew you wouldn't have any trouble stopping Eggman's newest robot!" Amy spoke while holding onto the squirming blue hedgehog tightly.

"Hey, Amy, get off of me, will ya!" Sonic cried out in exasperation. Even **married** she still had to act like this whenever he saved the day again. Sonic remembered once asking Tails why she always did it and the smart fox's assumption that it most likely was for the photo op the media would then take of the two together every time Sonic saved the city again. Sonic had to agree with him as well, too. Amy sure did know how to make a convincing scene…

"This can't be right," Tails spoke up suddenly as he and Mysty finally walked over from the parked X-Tornado nearby. "It was way too easy, Sonic. Eggman hasn't attacked in this long, and, now when he does, it's not even some kind of super-hard robot?" Tails voiced his concern as his gut feeling told him something more was going on here, possibly even a trap.

"Whoooo hoo hoo hoo hoooo! It seems like I never will be capable of fooling you, Tails!" Eggman's voice suddenly could be heard as all four Mobians' heads craned to look into the sky at a high floating chair above the current street they were standing in.

"Eggman!" Amy shouted in mild anger and surprise while quickly releasing Sonic at once as everyone but Mysty immediately identified the object and its occupant.

"Gee, bro, do ya always have ta be right all the time?" Sonic remarked to Tails sarcastically as he knew by simply the robust Doctor's appearance that this fight was barely started.

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't," Tails truthfully remarked as he made sure to place himself between Eggman and Mysty, determined to protect her if need be from any surprise Eggman might have in store.

"Ha ha! So nice of you all not to forget me that quickly during my little… 'robot designer's block', you might say!" Eggman shouted back as his pod finally came near enough to reveal the Doctor himself sitting cross-legged and eager in his own personal transportation device. "Oh, decided to bring the Missus along this time, Sonic? And what have we here following our friend Tails around today, too, Hmm? Perhaps you've finally grown tired of weeping for that dead plant of yours and decided to move on to something more your own species?" Eggman goaded the two heroes with his usual taunting before a battle, this time though inadvertently picking some particularly strong nerves on Tails to take advantage of, however.

"You helped Cosmo save **all** of our lives, Eggman!" Tails shouted in anger as he simply wouldn't abide the obese evil genius saying anything bad whatsoever about his late girlfriend.

"My, I can see that this is still quite a sensitive topic for you, Tails," Eggman answered back as he pretended to sound intimidated while allowing a devilish grin to sneak across his face. "I hope you understand how much baggage this little fox actually carries before you seriously consider dating him, my dear," Eggman then jokingly gave the advice to Mysty, who in turn was too shocked and confused to make any sort of response.

"Enough chit-chat, Egghead!" Sonic thankfully broke into the conversation, tearing it away from the dangerous area it had gotten into whether intentional or not. "I've already trashed your tin can robot, so now what?" Sonic asked, ready for action or, although he considered it highly unlikely, Eggman's surrender.

Eggman instead just laughed once more in amusement at the hedgehog's impatience. "I wonder why you never bothered to invite me to yesterday's party this year again, Sonic. Don't you think I deserved to enjoy it too? After all, if it wasn't for me and sacrificing my ship as well, you all would have been Meta-bait!" Eggman replied in his usual thoughtful tone.

"Are you saying that you attacked the city just because you weren't invited to our party?!" Amy shouted in disbelief. After all, even she didn't think Eggman was really **that** vain or shallow-minded.

"Of course not! As a matter of fact, it gave me plenty of time to catch up on some reading of mine I'd forgotten about. Tell us, Tails, did you ever become familiar while you were on Earth with the mythological creature called a Hydra?" Eggman asked, knowing that nobody but the two-tailed genius would have even likely heard of the name, much less remember anything about it.

"Yeah, Chuck had a book about it and all these other ancient Greek monsters I read once," Tails responded after only a moment's thought to register the name once again in his mind. "It was basically some giant monster with long dragon-like heads, but for every head you cut off several more grew out of where it had been. But why…?" Tails began to ask about the information's relevance until his own growing feeling of unease silenced the now slightly concerned fox.

"Whooo hoo hoo hoo! Let's just say that I've done that wonderful little story one better, Tails! Now, don't go spoiling the surprise for everyone else!" Eggman laughed as his floating chair quickly ascended into the air to a safe distance at rooftop level while the broken and mutilated pieces of the destroyed robot directly in front of the four Mobians suddenly started to shake and emit ominous sounds.

"Tails… What's goin' on here, bud?" Sonic asked tentatively and with a voice of impatience as all four Mobians crowded together as the junkyard of robotic pieces continued its unsettling movement.

Tails wasn't quite sure himself at first, but if what Eggman had brought up had any relevance whatsoever to the situation right now, that meant only one thing… "That giant robot you destroyed, Sonic, it's trying to rebuild itself!"

"So?" Sonic asked as he wondered how that should be such a big deal as to frighten his brother so much right now as the blue hedgehog glanced over at Tails in curiosity. "We took that thing down once already, so how hard can it be again?" Sonic posed the question.

"No, Sonic, it's not rebuilding itself like it was before," Tails quickly explained as he watched the shifting metal bonding, reshaping, and forming into hundreds of much smaller copies of itself all around them. "It's building hundreds of itself!" Tails finally found the courage to say out loud as an army of nearly completed and perfect scale versions of the original giant robot, now about as big each as any of the four Mobians standing there, began marching towards them.

"OK, this might be a bit more of a challenge…" Sonic admitted as the closing line of menacing, dragon-headed robot drones grew nearer.

"Tails…" Mysty's voice called out in fright as the male fox felt a shaking pair of hands hug his body in terror.

Stunned by the unusual contact, Tails felt himself begin to blush as he slowly turned around and gently forced Mysty's hands into his own. "Don't worry, Mysty. Sonic and I deal with this kind of thing all the time. You just stay here safe with Amy, OK?" Tails instructed as he gave her a reassuring smile, letting the frightened vixen's hands slowly fall from his and back to her sides as Tails turned back to face the closing enemy robots. Shifting his weight forward slightly while brandishing both tails out behind himself in a ready posture, Tails smirked as his eyes darted over to meet Sonic's own. "Ready?" the almost cocky fox asked his blue brother.

"Are you kiddin' me, bro? I've been ready!" Sonic responded as the hedgehog now shared the same self-assured grin. Then, without need for a word to signal 'go', the two brothers darted forward and into the thick of the advancing machines, leaving trails of broken metal as they reached the edge of the wall of enemies.

Mysty watched Sonic and Tails disappear into the midst of the menacing crowd of robots as one of her hands shot out as if to restrain the eager fox that was already gone. Listening to the sounds of Sonic and Tails fighting, robotic dragons firing beams of energy towards them from their mouths, and the almost constant smashing noises of metal on metal as the unlucky foes were flung into one another by the powerful blows and quick dodges both Sonic and Tails performed by instinct. Unable to see the fighters themselves in the chaos, however, Mysty couldn't help but feel like the hopelessly outnumbered duo was doomed and that the last she would see of either Tails or Sonic would be a gruesome sight indeed. Wondering why this had to happen so soon after just getting to know the two, Tails especially so, Mysty felt tears welling up in her eyes at the inevitable conclusion her mind told her this encounter would have.

It came as some surprise to her, then, as just when Mysty began to cover her eyes to weep, a white gloved hand attached to a pink arm quickly swatted the fox's own away. Looking up in pain and surprise, Mysty's watery gaze found Amy suddenly standing over her with a look of disgust on the pink hedgehog's face. "Hey, snap out of it! Don't tell me you're gonna cry every time those two do something dangerous," Amy scolded the over-worried vixen. "This is normal for them, trust me," Amy gave the crying female an almost unconcerned speech.

"But…?" Mysty started to contradict Amy weakly before realizing that she didn't really have anything to say. The pink hedgehog's argument was as solid as the proverbial brick wall, although it still took some time for Mysty to register the current situation as anything near normal. Looking back up to the pink hedgehog quickly to apologize as she realized her gaze had shifted towards the ground, Mysty instinctively ducked upon the instant sight of the female hedgehog's giant hammer on a course straight at her face.

Less than an instant later, the mighty swing of the hammer connected squarely with a mechanical object standing just behind the frightened vixen, sending the destroyed bot flying away to explode on a sidewalk harmlessly. Finally looking back up through shaking hands covering her eyes, Mysty witnessed Amy hefting her giant Piko Piko Hammer over her shoulder in pride with a satisfied smile on her face. "Trust me, Mysty, if you want Tails to like you, you've got to show that you're tough enough to do what he does," Amy tutored the still shaking vixen as the pink hedgehog immediately spun on her heel and drove her hammer into the circuits of another robot that had made the mistake of approaching too close to the mallet wielding menace. "I mean, I couldn't always wait around for Sonic to rescue me **every **time something happened," Amy continued speaking while fending off a few more robots at the same time, amazing Mysty at how she could multitask so well in a life-or-death situation.

Feeling the resolve slowly setting in like a burning sensation in her chest, Mysty realized that Amy had to be right. Tails would never approve of her being so shy and such a crybaby forever. It was time that she did something to help him for once and prove how much she appreciated all he and the others did for her already. Diving quickly into the thick of the enemy swarm while Amy strangely looked on but never stopped her, Mysty quickly sought out the other fox she knew was currently fighting somewhere in the sea of attacking metal lizards. "Tails! Tail… AHH!" Mysty screamed as suddenly a large metal jaw closed tightly around her large tail and lifted the helpless vixen into the air.

Meanwhile, as he and Sonic continued their rapid bashing of anything made of metal in the thick of the swarm of robotic dragon-like creations, the sweaty and tired fox quickly picked up the shrill scream with his large, attentive ears. "Mysty!" Tails shouted in concern as he quickly plunged his foot through a nearby robot's torso, causing it to explode, and immediately took to the air in search of the origin of the panicked cry. Spotting the female fox being held up in the air from the tide of sinister robots by her large tail, he immediately began a headlong dive at the vixen's captor, spiraling in midair as he approached so that his rapidly spinning tails sliced the robot's head clean off in one quick motion as he landed to catch the now falling vulpine.

"Mysty! What did you think you were doing?! It's dangerous here!" Tails reprimanded the other fox he'd just rescued. He distinctly remembered having told her to stay with Amy where it was safe before he and Sonic started fighting, so why would she even think about running in here to try and find him?

"I'm… I'm sorry, Tails… I just…" Mysty started to explain before she saw the robot Tails had just decapitated nearby seemingly grow a brand new set of three heads and quickly fire a beam of energy from each at the two. "LOOK OUT!!" she cried suddenly in warning as her eyes widened in fright.

Tails knew better than to take the extra time to actually trace Mysty's gaze back to the incoming blasts, however, as the fox instinctively shoved Mysty out of the way in front of him. Unfortunately, the her fright had caused Mysty's warning to be ever so slightly delayed to the point that Tails himself didn't have the time to completely clear the trio of blasts as well. Tripping in his rush and falling forward on top of Mysty, the two-tailed hero felt a searing heat from one of the beams graze him in the side of his torso, burning away all fur and flesh that it met instantly while Tails couldn't help but let out a scream of pain at the overwhelming sensory overload his nerves in the area now projected to the fox's brain.

Seconds later, Mysty looked up and noticed Tails' wound from the seeping bit of red slowly staining the remaining fur around it as the male fox's already heavily stained white gloves covered the burning injury itself, a look of extreme pain on Tails face as his teeth were barred against the overwhelming impulse to scream again. Luckily, only half a second later the robots surrounding the two simultaneously exploded as small, sharp, black objects simultaneously pierced their armor and triggered the self-destructs by severing each of their power cores. Looking up in confusion and fright, Mysty finally saw something that gave her hope standing nearby. Or rather, a trio of somethings.

"Whoa… Pretty snazzy work there, Espio!" Vector applauded the purple chameleon whose expertly thrown shuriken had saved the beleaguered vulpines.

"Naturally," Espio responded with a smirk of satisfaction as he stood up from his crouched position from which the lethal projectiles had been thrown.

"Show off," Charmy only scoffed as the three quickly rushed over to Mysty and Tails' aid.

"Hey, fancy mettin' you here after yesterday!" Vector greeted Mysty casually as the Chaotix quickly stood over the two collapsed foxes.

"Please… Tails is hurt!" Mysty cried back, forcing herself to try and fight back tears once more. This was all her fault; she knew it. If she hadn't tried to get in over her head and just listened to Tails earlier…

"What?!" Vector responded in a look of amazement. Sure, he'd seen Sonic and Tails fight against Eggman's robots before with impossible odds, but never had he known for either of them to be seriously injured in a battle, or at least not unless it was a **really** big and important fight.

Charmy didn't want to just take her word for it either and quickly hovered over Tails' side. "Whoa! Hey, guys! She's not kidding! Tails looks like he's really in lots of pain here!" Charmy responded after only a quick glance the fox's pain stricken face and the sizeable amounts of blood seeping out from around his gloved hands clamped tightly to his side.

"Vector," Espio's calm voice suddenly interjected as well. "Sonic needs our help. Without Tails, he will be hopelessly outnumbered," the ninja Mobian brought back the other major priority at the moment.

"Hurmm… OK, Charmy, you stay here and keep Tails and Missy company! Come on, Espio!" Vector motioned as the two ran off back into the thick of the robots to assist Sonic and also Amy in mopping up what still remained.

"It's 'Mysty', Detective Clueless! And why can't I come too?!" Charmy yelled at the two other members of the Chaotix as they left, but neither of them heard the aggravated bee's remark before they were both lost in the fighting as well. "Not fair! You bigger guys always get all the fun!" Charmy pouted loudly to himself as he kept his place hovering over Tails while observing intently the large fight nearby.

Mysty wasn't so enticed by the action, however, as she leaned apologetically over Tails. "Tails… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" she repeated to herself as tears fell from her eyes and onto the fur of the injured fox's fortunately unmarred white chest. Her leaning over him and crying was also the last thing Tails remembered too, before the injured fox began to feel strangely weak and slowly blacked out.


	8. Chapter 8: Conspiracy

Incest

Disclaimer: Now I know why most people only put this on their stories once... *sigh* I don't own Sonic or any related characters. I do own Mysty, however, for all the good it does me. XP

Well, here you have it! Sorry for the long wait between chapters while I finished off one of my other stories that was getting to its final ending, but at least it's done and out of the way for good now. Hopefully you all remember where the last chapter left off by now still. (And who couldn't after that cliffhanger? XD) So, I hope you enjoy this next one as things really start to get interesting. As always, feel free to review when you're done reading to tell me what you think!

Chapter 8: Conspiracy

He awoke first to the feeling of cozy warmth. Despite his fright as he remembered the last things to happen to him, Tails immediately sensed the feeling of security in his current location. He wasn't still lying on the street surrounded by robots, Tails could sense that much just by the silence. To find out just where he **was**, though, would involve him opening his eyes, which the groggy fox eventually did so reluctantly.

Tails was greeted by the roof of his all too familiar room upstairs in his home. He was tucked into his bed underneath a heavy blanket with two pillows stacked up beneath his head, clearly the kind of comfortable arrangements Sonic wouldn't have known how to do by himself. Tails assumed then that it was Amy or possibly Mrs. Vanilla that had treated his wound and laid him here to rest after the fight in the city was finally over.

Remembering the painful injury once again just now, Tails gently probed with one hand down to his side where the searing blast had burned through from its grazing shot. Not surprisingly, the wound was tightly bandaged and neat, although a bit of prodding caused Tails to regret playing with the injury once the pain began to resurface from the bandaged area. Luckily, the wound seemed superficial only, which meant the lingering pain that Tails still felt would likely be the only major temporary side effect until it was fully healed again. Based on his own extraordinary rebound rate, however, Tails figured that process alone might take less than a few days. He also figured the only real reason the non-serious injury had felt so painful right when it had occurred was that it had only burned through the topmost layers of his fur and skin, leaving the nerves underneath fully intact to register every bit of the ensuing pain. It would explain how he was overwhelmed by the sheer pain and acted like it was a much worse injury than it probably turned out to be, not to mention passing out involuntarily likely being just his body's way of stopping the oppressive pain response from his overloaded nervous system at that time.

Glad to see that he wouldn't be forced to stay bedridden from his injury for long at any rate, Tails' mind then wandered on to questions of how the fight against the horde of Eggman's robots actually fared past the point when he blacked out. The fact that he was comfortable and cozy in his own bed right now implied that Sonic, Amy, and the Chaotix had won in the end, but Tails couldn't help but be concerned for anyone else becoming a casualty as well in that frenetic battle before it was finally settled. In particular, Tails found himself wanting to know most of all if Mysty was unharmed, or how she was taking things after he lost consciousness back there. Luckily, all his questions concerning recent history could soon be answered as Tails' room's door slowly opened to admit the vixen Tails had just been focusing on.

Seeing the yellow fox in his bed, now with his head up and eyes wide open, Mystique almost leapt in surprise. "Tails! Oh, you're okay! I was so worried after you passed out in the city," Mysty almost began to tear up in her excitement and joy at seeing the male vulpine awake again.

"No, I'm fine, Mysty. I don't think Eggman worked long enough on his robot's aim this time," Tails quickly caught on to her hyper-concerned mood and did his best to alleviate the vixen's remaining fear. "Actually, I was starting to get worried about you and the others, too," Tails then admitted, hoping for information that everyone else was all right.

"Oh, of course! Everyone else is just fine. They defeated the rest of the robots a little after you passed out, and Sonic flew the X-Tornado back here to your house while the Chaotix stayed in the city," Mysty quickly informed Tails, chiding herself for not suspecting that Tails would need a recap of some events he had missed while unconscious. "Sonic and Amy are still waiting downstairs until you woke up, too," Mysty also added.

Tails seemed a bit surprised to hear this, or rather, not to hear anything pertaining to more visitors beyond their small group that went into the city today. "You mean Sonic didn't go get Mrs. Vanilla to help out after I was hurt and you guys got back here?" Tails asked, only expecting that the maternal rabbit had been here by the way he'd noticed that he had been so expertly tucked in once he'd first awoken.

"He did mention it, I think. Before we left the city, though, a few of us had a quick look at your side and realized it wasn't that bad, so Sonic didn't think it was important enough to worry her and Cream," Mysty answered almost apologetically.

"Well, I guess it just hurt more than anything," Tails admitted as well, not taking any offense that his injury hadn't sparked more concern than it did. Tails didn't see what the point would be in that anyway, except that one thing remained unexplained still. "But who did the bandages and everything? I didn't know Amy was that good at first aid and all," Tails commented.

Mysty seemed not too sure whether to beam with pride or try to apologize again as she responded. "Oh, well, Uhmm… It was actually me who did all that work. Why, did I get something wrong? I wasn't sure if you usually liked resting on one pillow or two, so I…"

"No, no, Mysty. Everything's perfect," Tails interrupted her, a bit amazed at where she might have picked up such first aid skills in the first place. Then he remembered the rough and tumble city streets she'd once lived in not more than a couple days ago, and her talent in the area of treating injuries made more sense. "I was just surprised by how neat everything felt," Tails confessed as he complimented Mysty for her help.

Mysty wasn't entirely sure how to take the compliment, though, as she remained standing nervously at the foot of Tails' bed for an awkward moment of complete silence. Finally, she seemed to find a new topic of discussion to break the stillness. "I hope you don't mind either, Tails, but I watered your flower for you when we got back as well," Mysty told the male fox briefly as her eyes wandered to the single plant growing in a large pot on Tails' windowsill.

"Oh yeah, I guess I forgot about that this morning before we got sidetracked," Tails admitted quickly as he scratched the back of his head at his mistake.

Mysty seemed to pause for a moment to contemplate whether or not she should even ask her next question, seeing as how it had a good chance of being related to a topic Tails wouldn't want to go back to again from this morning. Finally, though, her curiosity won out as she uttered the question anyway. "Tails, that flower… It looks like a rose, but it isn't any kind of rose that grows around here. Actually, I don't even know if it is indigenous anywhere on this planet," Mysty hesitantly stated.

Tails immediately realized that she might have sensed from her extensive botanical knowledge that the flower was unique before now, but also that she hadn't brought it up because she feared it might have to do with Cosmo as well. Now that she had time to examine the plant closely, though, and finally found the courage to ask him directly, Tails could also tell her she was right. "It's not," Tails answered quickly and with a slightly somber tone. "Actually, that's… that's Cosmo."

The confusion on Mystique's face was unmistakable at this point. "This plant in your window is Cosmo?!" she asked in disbelief.

"No, no, no…" Tails tried to correct his poor explanation a second ago. "You see, after Cosmo died, Sonic could only find one thing left from her before this giant wormhole sucked everything in. It was a tiny seed that he gave to me before we came back home. I wanted to hold on to it since I hurt so bad for losing her, but eventually I thought that I should plant it instead," Tails explained. "I guess maybe I was hoping that since a seed always grows into what it came from, at least on this planet, that taking care of it might somehow bring Cosmo back, too. But, all I ever got was this flower," Tails finished, now feeling his eyes becoming a bit watery as memories resurfaced yet again that still hadn't gone away in two whole years.

"I'm sorry, Tails. I should have known…" Mysty began to apologize immediately, her fears of upsetting the other fox with her question proving true.

"No, it's fine, Mysty," Tails dismissed her apology. He hated it when people tried to go out of their way not to ask or mention certain things when he was around just because they knew he was still 'sensitive', which meant Mysty's unrestrained curiosity was actually something Tails surprisingly enjoyed about her by now. "You know, maybe I could go for some water, though," Tails then changed subjects entirely as he only later noticed an untouched glass of clear liquid on a bedside stand nearby, clearly meant for him should he want a drink whenever he woke up. Unfortunately, the glass was a bit out of reach for Tails in his current position, so the fox began to lean over out of his bed and stretch one arm to reach for it.

"Please, Tails, let me get that for yo… AHH!" Mysty quickly interjected as she witnessed Tails straining himself to reach the glass of water and hurried to dash for the glass before he could grab it. Unfortunately, in her rush Mysty failed to completely circumnavigate the corner of the bed and tripped over the bedpost directly on top of Tails by accident.

Tails, seeing Mysty falling towards him, had luckily just enough time to lay flat on his back again as she landed on him, avoiding any further injuries by her possibly landing on his bandaged side or pinning his arm beneath his and her combined weight. Still, the clumsy vixen ended up knocking a bit of the air out of Tails as she landed sprawled out on top of him with the layer of covers still in between, their faces halting only inches apart. Stunned by the sudden proximity, Tails found himself oddly frozen in place while staring up into Mysty's bright blue eyes, the same color as his own which Mysty, equally stunned, now seemed to be staring down on. For a few more seconds, neither fox made a sound or movement beyond breathing, both seemingly terrified and yet transfixed at the same time with one another. Some unexplained urge he almost acted on told Tails to lift his face forward and meet her muzzle with his own for a moment until, blushing heavily, Mysty quickly clambered off his bed.

"I… I'm so sorry, Tails. I really should be more careful," Mysty immediately berated herself as she turned her face away from his bed to hide her almost crimson blush at the mishap.

Tails at this point could also feel his face heating up from a very awkward blush as well. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened a second ago with their little accident, but some of those feelings while he was looking into her eyes so closely were also vaguely familiar to him. He'd experienced moments like that before, Tails knew, but only with one other person… "It's okay, Mysty. Umm… Accidents happen, right?" Tails replied nervously, trying to dismiss the awkward moment entirely.

"Yes, it was just an... an accident," Mysty agreed willingly, putting the strange situation behind them and out of mind as she finally reached over and handed Tails the glass of water that was the culprit for starting the awkward accident in the first place.

"Thanks," Tails simply replied as he took a drink.

* * *

A figure slowly crept away from the half open door overlooking the two foxes from the hall. The hedgehog remained stealthy enough not to be detected as it walked away down the hall towards the stairs to the living room. Inwardly, though, the scene that was just observed sent the hedgehog's mind into a whirlwind frenzy. _I knew it! They were already holding hands when Sonic and I came to warn Tails about Eggman, and now she was practically making out with him in his bed while no one else was supposed to be around! _the pink hedgehog fumed while her hands balled into tight fists.

_I told Sonic that she was nothing more than street trash, looking for another good, innocent little male to play her games with! _Amy thought vindictively, her observation just a moment ago giving the shrewd hedgehog all the proof **she **needed at least. Amy just couldn't believe how heartless Mysty must be, though, to pick on someone like Tails after all he'd been through before with love. As a matter of fact, she only seemed to ask for more and more details on how Tails and Cosmo were together after finding out about the tragic story! It was almost as if Mysty wanted to dig down to the thing that still hurt Tails the most, so she could get him to love her even more before she stabbed another knife into his already broken heart. In the memory of Cosmo and for all her care she felt towards Tails as well, though, Amy vowed not to let this happen.

The pink hedgehog would need a plan, some way to figure out Mysty's true intentions and next moves, while also providing a very unwelcome atmosphere for the attractive vixen. She already knew that she couldn't count on any help from her husband on this, either, since he'd probably believe that what she'd just seen in Tails' room was a good thing and be happy for them. No, pretty much any male entirely would be more than unhelpful in chasing Mysty away, as would the Rabbit family where she was clearly a welcome resident. However, thinking back to the party yesterday, Amy finally realized that she wouldn't need to be entirely alone in this, either. After all, Rouge was the one that got Mysty to run away from the party in the first place, wasn't she? And it's not like Amy needed to tell the ivory bat any of her own plans to make it work either…

"Hey, Ames! So, is he up yet?" Sonic suddenly spoke to Amy as she made her way into the living room where he'd been waiting.

The abrupt greeting quickly startled the ruminating hedgehog out of her thoughts for the moment as she stammered to answer him before the other hedgehog sensed that something was up. "Huh? Wha… Oh! Umm… Yeah, I just saw him talkin' to Mysty a second ago up in his room," Amy muttered quickly.

"OK, then," Sonic seemed to take his wife's hurried response without any signs of suspicion so far. "So, what were they talkin' about?" Sonic again caught Amy off guard by asking.

"Well, Uhh…" Amy stuttered as she debated telling Sonic what she'd seen transpire in Tails' room or not. "H-How should I know?! I don't just go around eavesdropping on other people's conversations, you know!" Amy finally came up with the convincing rebuttal, even finding herself going so far by the end of it as to put her hands on her hips while giving an indignant glare to the blue hedgehog.

Sonic was easily fooled by the body language alone into backing off quickly, thinking that Amy was a bit testy at the moment for some reason and not particularly desiring to be dashing around Tails' living room dodging another giant mallet. "Whoa, hold up, Ames! I'm sorry, OK? I just thought that maybe you'd overheard something, that's all…" Sonic clarified as he backed away a couple steps and waved his arms in front of him trying to stall the pink hedgehog's anger.

Amy almost grinned as she gained control of the conversation now. Sonic may have been one of the fastest, strongest, and most popular creatures on Mobius, but that didn't make him any less susceptible to her feminine wiles. "I forgive you, my little Soniku," Amy purposefully poured on more charm than she knew Sonic was comfortable with. "Actually, I've been thinking maybe I was wrong about Mysty. The way she just wanted to help out today at least showed that she cares for Tails a little," Amy told Sonic, every word an intricate lie as she quickly thought of the perfect way to bait her trap for the vixen upstairs later.

Sonic seemed almost stunned at Amy's sudden change of heart. After all, when that female hedgehog made her mind up about something… "Really? So ya think you could give her a chance?" Sonic asked Amy, seemingly very pleased at her acceptance of the female vulpine finally.

"Well, it's like you said, Sonic; I just want whatever's best for Tails," Amy spoke truthfully, although she purposefully worded things so Sonic would get the wrong impression as to her true intentions. "As a matter of fact, I want to make it up to Mysty for being so rude in the past, so I'm going to invite her over to our house for a special girl's night tonight!" Amy added, a bit of planted excitement in her voice.

Sonic fell for the ruse hook, line, and sinker, too, as the blue hedgehog smiled proudly at his wife's rare admission that she'd wronged Mysty and her intentions to make it up to the shy vixen as well. "Sounds like a plan to me. Tails and I can probably hang here for the night, anyways," Sonic approved, not necessarily feeling like being in a house full of women all night, however. Mysty only really seemed shy around men mostly, anyways, so Sonic doubted that she would refuse to go if it was a girls only event.

"Well then, I have to get back and start getting things ready for tonight," Amy stated as she walked over to the door that lead outside from Tails' living room. She knew that Sonic would certainly tell Mysty about her invitation without her needing to actually be there since he seemed so appreciative of the idea, and Amy had plenty of things to get ready and plan in the meantime. First up on the list would be to invite the other guest of honor...

* * *

It was a rundown pub in the middle of the city, close enough to the street down the alley to be convenient, but far enough not to attract any undue suspicion either. Inside, the dim florescent lights over the tables and bar combined with the neon tubes of numerous glowing beer logos sent dim illumination of all colors throughout the hazy, cigarette smoke-filled air. Mobians of considerable build and questionable occupations populated the joint; the apparent fashion being that of dark leather. All in all, the place didn't necessarily scream 'family friendly', but it was exactly where he knew his last information had pointed him to as well.

Stepping in from the doorway up to the bar, his smaller stature by comparison to most of the occupants became more apparent. If it concerned him at all by this point, though, the stranger's face never showed it as he rapped his fist against the counter to get the bartender's attention.

"Yeah, what'll it be?" the barkeep asked, clearly interested in the unusual stranger but wisely having learned to keep such observances to himself.

"I'm here for some information," the shrouded figure asked the bartender gruffly. "I was told this was the place to go if I wanted to find a cute young fox."

The anthropomorphic bear-like Mobian who served as the bartender only laughed. "You came in here lookin' for a good time, then, eh? Ha ha! Funny, you just didn't strike me as the type when you walked in here," the bear chuckled in amusement.

The silhouetted figure only scowled angrily, the unhappy grin the only part that could be easily distinguished of the shorter stranger's face in the shadow of his worn hood.

Quickly taking the hint, the bartender immediately cut out the mirth. Something about this guy just didn't seem right to the seasoned barkeep. He looked like he would be a pushover compared to any person in this room right now, himself included, but something else about the stranger told the bear that this fellow wasn't one he wanted to mess around with, either. "OK, fine. Cute foxes come in plenty around here, though, so did you have a certain one in mind?" the barkeep quickly asked.

"As a matter of fact…" the shady individual asked from beneath his suspicious robed hood, "I'm looking for one that's a bit more exotic. You can't miss her because of her… unique condition."

"Guy knows what he likes," the bear only muttered approvingly. "Get a surprising number of people wanting that one, actually. Guess there's a fascination with the chance to have your way with a circus freak…"

The figured now seemed to lift one eye in surprise. "You know who I'm looking for?" he asked plainly.

"Oh yeah, certainly. Thing is, I've heard she's not nearly the best. Matter of fact, if it weren't for that tail of hers, she'd probably never see any interest at all," the knowledgeable bartender told the stranger as a bit of free advice between males.

_Tail?_ the stranger thought to himself as he heard the slight discrepancy. Still, he'd spent the better part of the week before finding this lead so far, so he wasn't about to call the search off just yet until he had more information. "This fox have a name?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, sure. Goes by Mystique, if I recall. Actually, I think that's just a name she gave herself to attract more customers, you know? I don't think anyone knows her real one; not even her, actually," the bear told the stranger truthfully.

"I get it," the hooded figure replied, his tone implying that the bartender could cut more of the details and just answer his questions straight from now on. "So, where can I find her, then?"

"Normally?" the bear replied, his tone a bit hurt from the stranger's tart attitude, "I'd look in the park or alleys near the north residential district. But, word is, no one's seen that fox for a couple days now."

"Skipped town?" the stranger asked emotionlessly, his fascination in this one lowlife prostitute out of a whole city full of others being well noted by the barkeep.

The bear just shook his head, though. "Knowing this city? More likely she's head-first in some dumpster somewhere after somebody got their way with her and didn't want the missus to find out."

"No, she's alive. I'd know it otherwise," the stranger just added matter-of-factly, as if he'd only just passed her on his way inside the bar just a minute ago.

More than a little concerned to be talking with this strange person now, the bartender decided to hurry up and be rid of the potential problem to his establishment. "OK, so if you're so convinced she's still around, why don't you try finding Stubby and asking him? Word is the guy was the last to see her," the bear redirected the now unwanted guest to someone that could better answer his questions.

"Stubby?" the loosely robed figure questioned immediately.

"Sure, big brutish dog, all leather, recent nose job; you can't really miss 'em," the bartender spoke knowledgeably. "Used ta be a regular 'round here until just a few days ago. Heard he's claimed to have been attacked by both Sonic the hedgehog himself **and** his little flying fox pal recently, hence the new nickname. Can't tell ya where to look for that one, though, except that you'll know him when ya see 'em."

Apparently satisfied with the information gathered here now, the figure tossed the large black bear a coin for his troubles. "Thanks," the stranger muttered as he turned and left immediately while the surprised bartender managed to palm the unexpected tip from midair. With the distraction of the flying money to occupy most of the bear's sight at the moment, though, he could barely even tell if it was his imagination to see what appeared to be red highlights showing at the back of the stranger's ebony fur for the one instant that light seemed to penetrate into the back of his tattered hood.


	9. Chapter 9: Guest of Dishonor

Incest

Disclaimer: I think I should already have this covered by now in past chapters, but, just to be on the safe side, all characters belong to Sega except for Mysty. They can't have her. XD

First off, sorry everyone for the long wait! Wouldn't you know that as soon as I finally get around to completing this chapter after maybe a month or two the site **would **be momentarily glitchy and refuse to let me upload it. Story of my life, right there...

Anyways, I thank all of you who have left reviews and become so interested in this story for the wonderful support, and I hope that even more is still to come! Seriously, the only reason I continue these stories sometimes is because I know that people like you will read and enjoy them, or so I hope.

Chapter 9: Guest of Dishonor

Evening had already come around by the time Tails was assisted out of his bed by Sonic to walk downstairs for something to eat. His wound hadn't physically impeded Tails in any way, but the pain from moving any muscles at all on that side was crippling nonetheless. This made Sonic's help necessary several times when Tails would step too quickly and collapse forward against the blue hedgehog's arms. Thankfully, the short but painful journey soon ended at the large sofa in Tails' living room where Sonic left his brother to go get them both some dinner from the kitchen.

"So, what happened back there, bro?" Sonic asked loudly from the kitchen nearby as the sound of the hedgehog rummaging through the refrigerator could be heard.

Tails suddenly froze on the sofa in the middle of trying to make himself comfy. What exactly did Sonic mean by that question? Had he been eavesdropping a couple hours earlier when he and Misty were together in his room? Just to be sure he didn't have a difficult explanation coming soon, Tails quickly decided to play dumb. "Back where, Sonic?" Tails asked, praying the blue hedgehog wasn't talking about what his mind thought he was.

"You know, in the city. We were doin' fine for a long time there, so how'd ya end up getting yourself hurt like this?" Sonic clarified as the sound of opening and closing cabinets accompanied his voice from the other room.

Tails immediately breathed a heavy sigh of relief that went unnoticed by Sonic in the kitchen. _That was a close one…_ Tails thought to himself while he eagerly answered Sonic. "Well, I heard Mysty scream and saw that one of those hydra robots had captured her, so I rushed over and saved her. But, I guess I got distracted telling her to go someplace safe and got hit from behind," Tails recapped.

The sound of Sonic's half muffled laughter now came from the kitchen at Tails' recap. "Ha ha ha! Oh man, little bro, girls will do that to ya," Sonic spoke his sage advice as the hedgehog abandoned the kitchen and came back into the living room to stand near Tails. "At least mine can fend for herself most of the time… But, I wonder why Mysty even tried to fight if she was that scared," Sonic brought up the good point. So good, in fact, that Tails couldn't believe he'd never contemplated it before now, either.

Why would Mysty charge into the thick of the robots instead of staying back with Amy like he'd told her too? Tails knew Mysty wasn't the kind for foolish bravery, or really bravery of any sort, actually, so how did she end up with that sudden spike of courage to try and find him in the middle of that fight? The only way Tails could see is if she was encouraged to do it to try and impress him, but the only person not in the fight from their little group at the start was her and…

_Amy,_ Tails thought as he got the impulse to ball his fists in irritation. Ever since Mystique arrived here, that pink hedgehog seemed to have it in for her, and, although he understood that Amy wanted to protect him, sending Mysty into the middle of a swarm of killer robots to test if she was good enough for him was going way too far. He didn't bring up his reasoning to Sonic at the moment, though, since, whether Tails liked it or not, he was Amy's husband now, meaning Sonic would be forced to play counter to his argument in defense of his wife. "I don't know why, Sonic," Tails lied instead, hoping it would end this conversation faster to keep playing ignorant.

Unfortunately, Sonic seemed to have every intention to talk with Tails right now as the hedgehog took a seat next to Tails on the sofa instead of leaving. "Ya know, Tails, I've kinda been wondering about you two a lot recently. You guys seem ta be getting pretty close, right; you and Mysty?" Sonic asked curiously.

Tails' shock at the blatant question was unmistakable as the yellow fox jolted a bit in surprise where he sat near Sonic. This didn't cope well with his injured side, however, as Tails immediately doubled over while pressing a hand to his bandages in unexpected pain. _Yeah, great job at making that not so obvious…_ Tails berated himself as he grit his teeth in the temporary pain that felt also like a neon sign over his head pointing to his surprised reaction a moment earlier.

"Whoa, whoa! No need ta go torturing yourself there, bud. It was just a simple question," Sonic apologized as he witnessed Tails' painful reaction.

"Ahh… Sorry, Sonic," Tails groaned as finally the shooting pain subsided and the fox was left with the task of answering Sonic's inquiry once more. "What makes you think Mysty and I are close, though?" Tails asked right back, hoping he could convince Sonic otherwise since he was already successfully fooling the hedgehog on at least one other thing so far tonight.

"Oh, come on, bro. You don't seriously think I'm that clueless, do ya?" Sonic remarked as he gave Tails a 'don't try to hide it from me' expression. "We all know how shy she is around guys, but she loves spending time around you now. And, weren't you two holding hands when I came to tell ya about Eggman's attack earlier?" Sonic pointed out, much to Tails' dismay.

"Umm… Well, I… You see…" Tails stuttered as he played with the fur on the back of his head, a dead giveaway that the yellow fox was uncomfortable about the subject at hand.

"And Amy said she saw you two talking upstairs when ya woke up today, too," Sonic added as he noticed Tails' discomfort.

Tails' embarrassed reluctance quickly changed to horror as he heard Sonic's last sentence. "Wait, you mean Amy was spying on us?!" Tails asked in fright, hoping that she hadn't seen when Mysty had fallen on top of him in bed. If the pink hedgehog had somehow caught even a glimpse of that little accident, Tails didn't care to even begin imagining the conclusions Amy would draw from it, or her plans she'd come up with afterwards.

"Ames wouldn't do that, little bro," Sonic reassured Tails as he noticed the change in the fox's reactions just now. "She just told me she overheard the two of you talking when she went up ta check if you were up yet and came back down to tell me you were fine," Sonic told the worried fox, now a bit curious himself if there was something more he was missing here that Tails wasn't telling.

"So, she didn't see anything then, right?" Tails asked for confirmation before he could even think about how suspicious it might sound.

"Not that I know of, bro," Sonic answered with a slight quizzical look forming in his eyes. "Why?" the blue hedgehog finally pressed.

"Oh, nothing…" Tails replied as the fox seemed to look relieved once more as he tried to silence the lingering doubts still in his mind for now.

Sonic really knew that Tails was acting strangely now, and, being as concerned for his brother as he was, decided to press the issue a bit more in hopes of getting Tails to spill the chili beans. He really wanted to press Tails for reasons why he was so concerned about Amy having seen him and Mysty in his room alone together earlier today, but Sonic trusted Tails more than to assume the obvious possible conclusion, even with Mysty's past occupation taken into consideration. "Wow, I guess you're already worse off then I'd thought," Sonic instead commented slyly, leaving the out of place words to hover in the silence afterwards as a lure for his brother to take hold of.

Sonic clearly knew Tails well to use his own curiosity against the young fox like this as Tails' mind couldn't resist addressing the unusual statement. "What do you mean I'm 'worse than you thought'?"

"Well, I did just think you and Mysty were gettin' to be good friends and all at first, but, the way you're acting, I think maybe you like her," Sonic answered with a sly grin.

Sonic's playful words and attitude earned him a sharp punch on the shoulder from Tails as the fox tried to turn his back to the childish hedgehog in protest.

"Ouch! Oh, come on, don't be that way, Tails," Sonic immediately spoke again, realizing he was only making his brother angry now. "I know how you must feel about stuff like this now after Cosmo, but I'm not just tryin' to joke around here. I really wanna help," Sonic offered his explanation to the clearly annoyed fox.

Tails' hardened back softened a bit at Sonic's concern. He still didn't want to discuss his feelings for Mysty to Sonic right now, partly because Tails was still in the process of trying to deny them himself at the moment. However, Sonic was the only other person Tails actually trusted enough to talk about such things with, so the decision of whether to open up now or not became a major debate in the fox's mind.

"I just don't know, Sonic," Tails finally responded as he turned slightly back towards his older brother as a sign that his temporary spike of anger was gone. "I mean, she's pretty and nice and it seems like she's had a really hard life like I do, but…" Tails paused to swallow a growing lump in his throat, "I just don't think I can go through all that again. What if what happened to Cosmo happens again and I lose Mysty, too?"

"Oh, come on, bud," Sonic quickly responded to the sulking fox. "Not every woman ya meet is going to be some chosen person that has ta give up her life to save the world someday, you know. Cosmo wouldn't want you to just stay here sad and alone forever, would she?" Sonic asked, hoping he wasn't pushing too hard on the sensitive issue.

Tails was silent for a while after Sonic finished speaking, his mind going over what the blue hedgehog had just said, especially the part about what Cosmo would want from him. Tails realized that all this time he'd been trying to avoid telling himself this same thing. He'd been clinging to Cosmo's memory these two years as some sort of protection, with a lie he'd forced himself to believe so that such a thing could never happen again. But, now that those same wonderful feelings he had experienced with Cosmo had begun to resurface for someone else, Tails didn't know whether to forget his past hurt and pursue a relationship again, or to play it safe and learn from history's mistakes.

Sonic could tell after a long pause that he wasn't going to get an answer from the fox, so he finally broke the silence once more. "Look, bud, I'm not tellin' ya to hook up with Mysty or anything, but I just want you ta know that living your whole life alone isn't gonna be as easy as it may sound, even for a nerd like you," Sonic spoke in his own unique way in which Tails could never tell if he was dead serious or still half joking; whether or not he should thank Sonic for the advice or get angry at him again.

"Thanks, Sonic," Tails finally answered as the watery eyed fox turned to face his older brother with a sincere gaze.

"No prob, little bro. That's what I'm here for, ain't it?" Sonic replied with a smirk, still expertly cool on the exterior even after such a short, deep discussion. "Besides, ya might not want to thank me too much right now, anyways," Sonic added cryptically.

This caught Tails' attention instantly while his unshed tears were forgotten as the fox's head perked up farther in curiosity. "Why not?" Tails asked innocently.

"Well, I must have ate all the rest of your chili dogs while we waited for ya to wake up earlier, so there's not really anything for supper," Sonic announced sheepishly with a nervous chuckle to accompany a brief shrug of his shoulders.

Tails almost laughed at the seemingly miniscule problem following such an intense discussion. Normally he'd yell at Sonic for doing something like this yet again, but after the way he'd just been supporting him a second ago, Tails couldn't even pretend to be annoyed at the moment. _If I didn't know better, I'd say Sonic gets me into conversations like this just because he knows he'll get out of trouble for something he's already done if I find out immediately after,_ Tails thought as he shook his head gently. "Well, we can always order out," Tails improvised.

"Hmm… Not a bad idea, bro. I think I could go for a pizza tonight; how 'bout you?" Sonic agreed as Tails' idea indeed did make the blue hedgehog a bit hungry already.

"Sure, but it has to come from the same place where we ordered from last time while we were on our vacation," Tails accepted with the one stipulation.

Sonic's playful grin quickly dropped as he heard Tails' terms. "Oh, come on, Tails! Sure that place has the best pizza on Mobius, but it's almost on the other side of the planet!" Sonic objected.

"Well then, I'll call it in now so you can get a head start," Tails taunted as he reached for a wireless phone on the table in front of the sofa. "And if it's not here in thirty minutes or less, you get to pay for it all," Tails told Sonic the wager as punishment for eating all the fox's food in the first place. He then began dialing the long distance number as he watched Sonic just sit there on the sofa with his feet propped up on the table lazily. "I'm going to order now," Tails gave Sonic one final warning as the phone began to ring on the other end of the world in the pizza parlor Tails had dialed.

"Go ahead, it'll take a couple minutes for them ta put it in the oven anyways," Sonic answered back with a cocky smile as he showed no signs of taking advantage of the head start Tails had offered him. Sonic probably assumed that he was calling Tails' bluff, that the fox wouldn't really order a pizza from someplace on the other hemisphere and expect him to go get it…

"_Benvenuti, this is Spagonia Pizza Palace. Will this be for carry out or delivery?" _the strangely accented voice came over the receiver.

"Carry out, please," Tails almost chuckled as suddenly a blue streak left the sofa and dashed out the front door at blinding speed.

* * *

No sooner than it had gotten past dusk outside did Amy finally hear the long awaited knocking at her front door. The pink hedgehog cast her gaze quickly throughout the large ground floor room one last time, checking that every little thing for her special 'party' was in place before answering. Finally satisfied, Amy then opened the door to her home just a crack so that she could talk to the person on the other side without offering them a view of the interior just yet. "Oh, Mysty! I'm glad you made it. I know you don't really have your bearings around here yet, and I was worried that in the dark all alone…" Amy started to greet the vixen standing a bit nervously on her doorstep.

"No, it was no trouble, actually. Mrs. Vanilla gave me some great directions, and it wasn't too awfully far to walk anyways," Mysty responded with a slight sense of pride at having managed to travel after dark without becoming too terrified of getting lost that she turned back. Perhaps some of Tails' courage was beginning to rub off on her from all the time the two spent together recently? Regardless, the small accomplishment had undoubtedly put her in a better mood than usual for Amy's surprise get-together tonight. And while the thought entered her mind for the moment as well… "Cream was a bit disappointed that she couldn't come too, I think," Mysty told Amy as she remembered well the slight fuss the young bunny had raised upon hearing that she was not invited over to her best friend's house for some kind of party due to Cream's being 'too young'.

Amy sighed a bit as she heard the news that the pink hedgehog had already anticipated when she'd made the phone call over to Vanilla's just a couple hours ago to make sure Mysty had gotten the invitation from Sonic earlier. Normally Amy would invite Cream to any kind of celebration without question, but this one… Well, this wasn't going to be a real party in any sense, and Amy knew that the innocent young bunny just wouldn't understand what was going on and could ruin things if she had been allowed here tonight. It may make things that much harder to explain later, but Amy felt that excluding Cream from coming along tonight was for the best in the end. Realizing that she was just standing in the doorway without responding, though, Amy quickly opened the door wide and let the vixen come in.

"Thank you," Mysty politely replied as she walked in and shook off the slight chill of the crisp springtime night air. Inside, the home was furnished very comfortably with minimal decorations to show that any kind of celebration or get-together was happening at all. Still, the large room that constituted most of the downstairs area seemed very inviting and colorful, a place that Mysty found instantly almost as comfortable as the Rabbits' home in which she was currently lodged. "You certainly have a beautiful home, Mrs. Rose," Mysty replied formally, unsure of how to act around Amy due to the fact that Mysty still didn't quite feel that the pink hedgehog was as enthused about her presence living here as most of Tails' other companions.

"Oh, please, I just do what I can to make sure that Sonic doesn't wreck the place," Amy answered in slight satisfaction. After all, praise was praise, even if the one it came from wasn't particularly on her list of favorite people. "Go ahead and have a seat. I've got some snacks to go fetch from the other room, and I'll be right back," Amy instructed, her voice so far sounding completely civil and cheery.

While the pink hedgehog disappeared around a corner at the far end of the room, no doubt where the house's kitchen area was located, Mysty obediently found herself a nearby armchair and rested on its comfortable padded cushions, her somewhat tired legs thankful for the chance to recover after her walk. Even surrounded by such niceness and hospitality, however, Mysty still couldn't seem to totally shake a nervous feeling of unease that gnawed at the back of her mind. The vixen was aware that she had this feeling almost every time she was around Amy ever since first meeting her, but Mysty thought that it was perhaps rude to assume that the nice female hedgehog that had invited her over to her home was hiding something important or had some sort of scheme going on. Years on the street had taught Mysty to listen and act on this irrational warning before, but, here with someone that was so close to Tails, Mysty could hardly bring herself to believe that some sort of trap was being laid for her. The uneasy feeling still persisted, though, so Mysty quickly just labeled it an annoyance and tried to think nothing more of it. By this time, Amy had already returned with a tray of freshly baked morsels that Mysty presumed to be some sort of bite-sized gourmet pastries.

"I hope you enjoy these, Mysty. It's a recipe I learned from Ella back on Earth that makes great little treats for parties and such," Amy called out with a smile as she set the still cooling pan on a small table in the center of the room around which the majority of the chairs and sofas where situated.

Mysty blankly stared back at her for a moment until Amy gave her a gesture to try one of the bite-sized desserts. Now prompted, the female fox gingerly lifted one off the tray with care not to burn herself on the hot pan and brought the pastry-like item to her mouth. Biting into the soft food, Mysty yelped loudly as the still piping hot fruit filling that had been concealed within gushed out onto her tongue and burned her. Pulling the scalding snack food away in pain, Mysty thankfully had enough restraint not to drop it on Amy's pristine carpeted floor while the vixen managed to swallow what burning fluid had already entered her mouth a second earlier.

Seeing the sudden pain of Mysty's reaction, Amy quickly took the offending snack from the vixen's hands for her and set it safely down on a nearby plate. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you that they might still be a bit hot inside," Amy apologized in a sincere voice, although for the briefest of moments a slight grin could be spotted crossing the pink hedgehog's face. Amy then quickly handed Mysty a glass of plain water to help wash down the scalding pastry filling and cool the fox's burning tongue.

"Oh, thank you," Mysty responded finally after quickly drinking half of the glass full of water before finally stopping to breathe again. The vixen couldn't help but start to blush now at her dumb mistake as she giggled almost silently at herself. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Rose. Sometimes I just don't use my head when I should think first," Mysty apologized while her voice managed to maintain its mirth.

Amy wasn't sure what her response should be to Mysty's reaction now. Clearly the attractive vixen was becoming far more social with everyone since just a few days ago. Amy remembered when she'd first met Mysty that they sat around the dinner table listening to Sonic and Tails' jokes for hours and only occasionally would the female fox feel comfortable enough to crack a smile. But now…

_It's all just a trick, Rose, _Amy suddenly heard the voice echo inside her mind. _She's got Tails and Sonic and everyone else fooled with that little innocent act, and now she's trying to pour on the charm to get you too. You've got to be strong and remember what has to be done, _Amy talked herself out of the pleasant feelings she'd momentarily had for the female fox seated in front of her. "Oh, don't worry about that, Mysty. I swear that I do that all time, too!" Amy eventually responded after an awkward silence that stole the moment of laughter away permanently.

Mysty wasn't so sure about Amy's odd tone in her delayed reply. It seemed almost overly cheery, like Amy was trying hard to sound pleasant when her real attitude right now was much different. Of course, Mysty wasn't about to act on just a feeling to ask Amy if something about her being here was offending. After all, Amy had invited her, claiming that their friendship needed a chance to start over after all the negative things the pink hedgehog had once thought and said concerning her.

Thinking about the awkwardness of the situation and what it might imply only made Mysty feel a resurgence of her former, extremely cautious state of mind, something she'd been learning over the past couple days to work past and become a bit more social. So, in the interest of not ruining the party before it could begin, Mysty simply shoved all suspicious thoughts out of her mind and tried covering it all with more small talk. "Those do taste good, though, Mrs. Rose. Maybe if we wait for them to cool off a bit more first," Mysty shyly suggested, now for the first time wondering if these small treats were all that Amy actually had planned for tonight due to the lack of any other conspicuous activity laying out somewhere in the room.

"Yeah, I bet you're right. Well, that gives the three of us plenty of time to chat, then!" Amy responded with enthusiasm while grinning happily.

Mysty, however, looked a good deal more confused than excited. "Wait, the three of us? But you told Cream that she couldn't come," Mysty tried to correct Amy, wondering just where this third person was if the pink hedgehog wasn't just accidentally getting her tongue tied.

"I think the kind of chat Pinky here was talking about might be for the big girls only," another voice called out from inside the room as a large ivory-furred bat with an unmistakable outfit dropped down from nowhere.

"Rouge, you're late! Where have you been? And why didn't you just come to the door like normal people?" Amy asked in somewhat playful scolding, seemingly unaffected by the bat's unannounced entry which had caused Mysty to leap almost a foot out of her seat. "I told you the party was at eight, didn't I?"

"And you call this a party? Come on, gal, I've seen dead people that had bigger shindigs than this," Rouge joked right back in her customary insulting voice. "Anyways, I see you got Tails' little girlfriend here already. I've been meaning to ask a couple questions ever since our little group get-together a day ago," the bat added as she snatched up one of the bite-sized treats from the tray next to her and ate it whole. "Hey, not bad…" Rouge couldn't help but mumble her approval as she chewed without any signs of the food seeming to burn her mouth in the least.

If Amy's strange actions had made Mysty nervous earlier, then the presence of Rouge all the sudden was nearly enough to send the fox scrambling for the door. After the last time the two had met ever so briefly, Mysty was terrified of just the types of questions the bat could possibly have come up with for her to answer.

Amy inwardly smiled at Mysty's clear discomfort that didn't take a professional in body language to spot. Instead of letting Rouge go straight to her questions, however, Amy had a better idea to prolong the time all three of them spent together first, for no reason other than that it made the vixen clearly nervous. "Hang on, Rouge, how about we all talk about our guys for a little while first?" Amy suggested, always happy to hear and receive tidbits and gossip with other women she knew. "That is what parties like this are for, right?"

"Pah, what? You want me to talk about Knuxie and I? Ha, forget it!" Rouge quickly replied in a clearly agitated manner. It was just the kind of reaction that got both Amy and Mysty's attention, however.

"Did something happen between you two again? I thought at the party the other day you announced that you two would be getting…" Amy started to ask, Mysty temporarily forgotten from her mind at the new interesting news.

"Yeah, but now big muscle-head says it's all off," Rouge interrupted as she crossed her arms in irritation. "Turns out that even if we do get married I wouldn't be allowed on Angel Island anyways, according to him," the cross bat muttered angrily. "He says that I'll just use living there with him as an excuse to steal the Master Emerald again. Like I'd really be so shallow as to marry a guy for a giant priceless gemstone?" Rouge ended with the rhetorical question.

"So, you really wouldn't have even tried to steal it then?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"Of course not! After all, if I'm married to that muscle head, then that already makes the Master Emerald part mine, doesn't it? Why would I steal something that's already mine?" Rouge brought up her reasoning. "Of course, if Knuckles refused to share it with me, then maybe I'd try to steal it…" the bat added a half second later.

Amy had to cover her giggling by quickly popping one of the snacks into her mouth. She should have known all along that Knuckles and Rouge weren't really ever going to marry. Those two were both just so stubborn.

Rouge's keen eye for visual tells caught Amy's reaction, however, and prompted the bat to respond quickly. "Yeah, yeah… OK, you got me there, girl. I guess I still haven't changed," Rouge openly admitted as the female bat finally took a seat in the triangle of women. "Talking about change, though, what's been up with you and your big blue hubbie recently?" Rouge asked Amy as the girl talk session officially began.

"Oh, not much," Amy simply replied after swallowing her current bite of food. "Sonic and I have just been working on expanding the house a little bit recently, but not much more."

Rouge lifted an eyebrow at Amy's response, however, feeling that something was being left unsaid still. "Expanding your house? What for, gal? It's plenty big enough for two already, and it's not like you need more than one bed," Rouge pointed out shrewdly. "Don't tell me it's what I think this is," Rouge insinuated as her eyes stared transfixed on Amy's, demanding in their own pushy way for the truth.

"Wha… Oh! No, no! Nothing like that, Rouge!" Amy answered once she finally realized what the female bat was thinking. "No, I'm not pregnant. Sonic and I both decided it was too soon for that right now, which is part of the reason why we're working on expanding the house ahead of time so we'll have the space," Amy gave the full truth, hoping it would kill any suspicion the other women might have.

"Hey, don't sweat it, gal. Kids are a pain anyways," Rouge answered with a wave of her hand to show she believed Amy completely. "It's much more fun without them, if you ask me."

Amy seemed a bit put off by Rouge's complete dismissal of having a baby, however. "Well, I might eventually convince Sonic to have one, though," the pink hedgehog brought up in defense of the future idea.

"Whatever you want, gal, just so long as it doesn't take till then before you ever get that blue hunk in bed," Rouge commented rudely. "Talking about getting our boys into bed, how's it going with you, Mysty? Sounds like you found out what gets that fox's tails a-twirlin' already," Rouge smiled while she then turned her inappropriate tongue on the vixen who had been keeping silent at the edge of the group this whole time.

Mysty suddenly looked like she had been struck by a bolt of lightning at Rouge's question. The vixen's pupils shrank to small dots in fear as her body quaked and the pounding of her heart in her chest nearly ceased. She could find no voice to speak with for almost a minute before finally managing a soft, "What?"

Rouge smiled unsettlingly as she realized she could have some fun tormenting the frazzled vixen. "Heard it from pinky here that she saw you and Tails together in bed today when everyone still thought he was out from that injury of his. Pretty smooth work, gal. No wonder you used to get paid for it," Rouge continued on as she complimented Mysty for doing what the bat had thought would be impossible. After all, Rouge would have been willing to bet money on Eggman actually giving up and going straight for good before the little geeky Tails would ever lose his virginity.

Mysty was on the verge of tears as Rouge finished talking, however. The accusations stung even though they weren't true, and Mysty quickly realized her feeling was right in that this whole event was a trap. "No, I didn't… We… I just tripped trying to get Tails a glass of water," Mysty tried to explain as her voice already sounded frantic.

"Likely story," Amy commented, now joining in against the outnumbered vixen. "I saw the way you were looking at each other. You're just lucky that I got disgusted and didn't watch any longer after I saw you on top of him."

Mysty was at a loss now. It was true, or at least the part Amy had said about their shared look. For that one brief moment when she and Tails shared each other's gaze, Mysty knew that she felt something then. A powerful feeling of affection, love even, but to admit that now would only give the other two women more evidence to support their false claim that she and Tails had…

"Hey, come on, gal. I don't see why you have anything to cry about," Rouge spoke up as suddenly the bat was standing directly next to Mysty with her hand on the vixen's shoulder. "Tails spends way too much time thinking about the past and tending to that dumb flower of his. It's probably good for him that a professional such as yourself showed him what he's been missing."

"WHAT?!" Amy suddenly shouted from her chair as she heard Rouge's words. "Tails doesn't need love from some dirty whore!" Amy yelled viciously. Originally, the pink hedgehog had invited Rouge tonight and told her beforehand of what she'd witnessed between Mysty and Tails in his room earlier that day knowing that the inquisitive bat would bring the point up and make the vixen uncomfortable, but now her plan seemed to have backfired. Rouge had done what Amy had hoped, terrify and upset Mysty, but, instead of making the vixen feel like dirt for what she'd supposingly done, Rouge was congratulating her!

Rouge looked back at the spontaneously infuriated hedgehog in surprise as Mysty finally broke down into loud sobs at the shouting. "Whoa, gal! What's your problem?" Rouge asked defensively, wondering just where in the last few sentences she'd managed to get both Amy and Mysty so extremely upset in such different ways. "And what's with the thing against gals with a nice bust and a mind to use it, huh? You know that I'd probably kill to do what Mysty does for a living! Think about it, every day a new hunk with a pocket full of cash that they're willing to give to you just for a little fun, and it's not like the guy is the only one that gets to enjoy it, either, you know," Rouge summarized her view of Mysty's occupation, one of money, freedom, and pleasure.

"No… You're… You're wrong!" the crying vixen suddenly burst in as she displayed ferocity that no one in the room had ever seen before. Mystique was shuddering under the force of her emotions as she continued to shout. "Do you know what it's like when your whole world revolves around being a slave to some stranger? When you've 'done your job' and go back out into the streets because you have no home and don't need one because you're always in some other guy's bed at nights? To feel disgusted and sick every moment that you should be feeling pleasure but being forced to do it anyways just so you can have food to eat? For every man you pass by to know you well enough that they hand you money and drop their pants on sight? To be so helpless that most won't feel they have to give you the money you ask for in return, if any?! You're not even a person anymore! You're just some tool! Some object in a store for people to rent and not have to worry about being penalized for breaking! You…! You…" Mysty's loud ranting quickly faded out as the vixen with her eyes blinded by tears looked at both of the other women and their shocked expressions before she dashed across the room, vaulting a table in the process, and out the door, slamming it forcefully behind her as the vixen fled.

Amy and Rouge remained speechless, both suddenly and completely immobile as they stared at the door that Mysty had just escaped through.

In her chest, Amy felt a considerable amount of varying reactions. Her heart felt saddened and heavy in light of what Mysty had revealed about her past. Her stomach wanted to be sick at the description and imaginations Amy's mind came up with from the vixen's short tirade. But, most of all, Amy's body simply hurt in response to how Mysty felt right now. Amy knew she'd done this; she'd wanted to see her hurt this way. But, knowing the truth as she did now, Amy could no longer convince herself that Mysty was actually deceiving her, Tails, and everyone else. Sonic had been right all along to trust her, but Amy was never content to leave it at that. Not until she'd already gone and done something as horrible as this. Instead of trying to understand Mysty, she had only branded her by her occupation, deliberately making herself oblivious to just how much Mysty hated her former life. Now it was Amy that felt like the 'dirty whore' as the guilt and shame tore at her mind and body.

Rouge, on the other hand, seemed only surprised into silence by the sudden volume of the normally quiet and soft-spoken vixen. Thus, she was the first one to recover a minute after Mysty had left. "Wow… Wonder what the deal is with her?" Rouge rhetorically asked as she turned back to face Amy again slowly, intent on resuming their discussion even after the major interruption as if Mysty was never here. "You know, gal, I bet it's not really so bad as foxy there told us. She's probably just saying that to make sure I don't go into the business and steal all her costumers, you know?" Rouge joked with a slight grin, no doubt believing to herself that Mysty was a lot smarter and a better actor than she'd given the female fox credit for.

Hearing Rouge say this suddenly got Amy's blood boiling for some reason. After what they had just put her through here and after forcing her to reveal all that she did in such sickening detail, Rouge still felt not even a twinge of remorse for Mysty?! Amy knew that Rouge had a propensity for inappropriate comments or jokes in bad taste most of the time, but to say something like that right now… "Out," Amy quickly responded with one fist clenched by her side and another pointing to the same door Mysty had just used.

"What?" Rouge responded in a somewhat rebellious tone, no doubt simply confused by Amy's sudden strange actions.

"I said, 'out'," Amy repeated, pointing again at the door to make sure there was no confusion in her orders the second time. "The party's over, so leave."

"Gees, girl, what's gotten into you? Pah, it's not like this ever was much of a shin-dig anyways," Rouge commented as she nonetheless walked slowly over to the door and opened it to the outside. "Call me if you ever decide you need a psychiatrist for these mood swings or whatever. And extend that invitation to Miss Foxy if you ever see her again, too," Rouge gave the final words of sarcasm as she stepped out into the night air and quickly flew away.

Amy was now left alone in her house as she slowly walked up to a lamp that was tipped over on a table from Mysty's rapid retreat earlier and stood the fixture back in place. Luckily, the piece hadn't been broken despite its porcelain base. Staring at it mindlessly, Amy felt the guilt and confusion surge back again as she remembered the look on Mysty's face as she recalled what it felt like for her to live back in the city. What she had described was just horrible, surely too horrible to be actually true. But, then again, Amy realized in her heart that it was also simply too horrible of a story to be made up, either. All this time, Mysty had never once wanted to go back to that way of living, but Amy had only seen her for what she was supposed to be. Amy had assumed without question that Mysty was trying to hurt Tails, but now she thought that Sonic was right in saying that the two could actually help each other. And yet she'd been trying so hard to send Mysty back into that hell of an existence…

Immediately, it snapped into Amy's mind like a moment of clarity amidst her shameful emotions. After what had just happened tonight, where would Mysty go now? Surely she wouldn't think to just head back to the Rabbit's house in fear that Amy might call ahead and blackmail Mrs. Vanilla into turning her away by telling the morally upright rabbit the lie about what Mysty and Tails had done. Going off to Tails' home from here instead would also be unlikely since Mysty didn't know the way, which meant the vixen had only one other choice of places she knew of to go back to.

"Oh no!" Amy exclaimed as she instantly jerked upwards to her feet from where she was kneeling to fix the lamp. Unfortunately, in her sudden motion Amy herself knocked the lamp back over again, this time onto the floor where it shattered into pieces. The pink hedgehog didn't take the time to care to pick up or even acknowledge the shards, however. She had to find Mysty now and apologize, before it was too late. Without even shutting the lights off in her home, Amy quickly dashed out into the night, hoping to track down the emotional vixen.


	10. Chapter 10: Midnight Rendezvous

Incest

Disclaimer: I own Mysty, but, sadly, nothing else related to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise in this story.

Another long wait, I apologize. This chapter is also a bit on the short side, I'm afraid, but something is better than nothing, right? Regardless, thanks very much for all you wonderful reviewers and others who've been following this story so intently. I'm trying to get into a habit of writing more frequently, but my online classes, part-time job, and, of course, video games make that extremely difficult. Anyways, please read and enjoy! (And remember... although it's not required that you leave a review for me, it has been proven to motivate me to work faster on future chapters. ;D)

Chapter 10: Midnight Rendezvous

Where was she going? Mysty knew where her feet were taking her, back towards the dim glowing light beyond these never-ending hills. Even someone so easily lost as her knew in the darkness that this was the light of the city. The same city that had created the sorrow she so painfully felt now. So why was she running back towards it? Did she truly think things would be better there somehow? Why couldn't she stay with Tails and the others anymore? The more Mysty tried to think about what she was doing, the more it seemed like the wrong choice, but some part of her that could care less about logic and reason kept the vixen rushing headlong through the night towards the dim glow on the horizon.

She had no clue where she was in relation to anyone's house anymore, no sense of geographical location whatsoever. Rushing through the dark night, her endless tears stinging her eyes so that they remained closed to what little she could have seen around her, Mysty was fully expecting any minute now to feel the hard impact of colliding full force into a stout tree. Perhaps she would run straight off a large cliff and suddenly feel only blank air underneath her pounding feet. The only possibility it seemed Mysty's mind did not devise in time was the small thicket directly ahead of the fleeing vixen.

Her leading foot entered the brambles and got caught up instantly. The rest of her body still tried to follow through by inertia, however, sending Mysty on an ungraceful dive into the bushes face first. Her speed and weight crushed the obstructing greenery beneath her as thousands of tiny thorns from the wild plants dug through her clothing and tore at the skin beneath Mysty's fur. The female vulpine finally cried out in pain as she struggled to free herself from the prickly trap, her blind flailing only adding to the pain for a moment before Mystique extracted herself from the bushes and collapsed nearby.

Mysty couldn't be sure how injured she was in the dim light, but the feeling of small points of pain radiating from tiny punctures throughout the front of her body told her she was most likely bleeding. The pain far surpassed the superficial damage, of course, but this incident was at last enough to bring Mysty's irrational flight to a quick stop. Sitting in the darkness alone, she allowed herself time to just cry and contemplate how she would live now. Options seemed scarce and unattractive at this point, but something caught her attention before she could even try to decide.

Her large triangular ears stood up at the sound. Was someone else here, or did the darkness combined with her own knowledge that she was lost and alone invent just one more way that she might torture herself tonight? Whatever or whoever it was, they were coming up fast and clearly weren't concerned about being quiet either.

"Mysty! Hey, Mysty, please wait up!" the voice called out into the darkness. The teary-eyed vixen recognized its owner immediately as the same pink hedgehog that had led her to this level of despair just minutes ago back in her comfy living room. Not wanting to be found like this, least of all by Amy, the fox kept herself quiet as the shadow of the pink hedgehog came rushing past in an attempt to catch up with the vixen that could have been much farther ahead given the substantial head start. Amy was clearly thinking that Mysty was still ahead of her, too, as the pink form rushed unknowingly headlong towards the same thorn bush that had claimed Mysty once already.

"W-wait! Stop!" Mysty found herself suddenly crying out at the last second as Amy's hurried footfalls ceased just short of the same painful hedgerow that the vixen had stumbled into earlier.

Not realizing for a moment that she had been saved from a thorny fate, Amy wheeled around in stunned silence to find the source of the sudden warning. Her eyes finally saw Mysty now in the dim light, sitting with her hands pressed to her chest in clear pain while her eyes shown with surprise as well staring back at the female hedgehog.

"Mysty? Mysty, what happened?" Amy called out in worry as she hurried to kneel down by the vixen's side for support.

"A thorn bush… right there," Mysty commented while pointing to the biological speed trap Amy had just nearly been skewered upon as well.

Amy glanced over her shoulder in the direction of Mysty's finger to finally see the dangerous shrubbery in the dim light. "Ouch, you fell in there? At least that means you didn't hit a tree or go off a cliff or something, but… Hey, wait a second! You warned me before I ran into that too, didn't you?" Amy finally realized, her thoughts now coming out verbally as quickly as they occurred to the female hedgehog.

Mysty was equally as stunned at the obvious observation as well. Yes, indeed she had spoken up when she noticed Amy running straight for the same painful trap she herself had fallen into a minute ago, but why? The last person Mysty thought she could care about now was Amy, so what had compelled her to stop the pink hedgehog from falling into the brambles as well? She could have just used the time to hide, hoping Amy would leave after falling into the thorns and getting rid of the unwanted hedgehog that had caused her to relive so much pain tonight. So why did she instinctively help Amy instead?

More surprising than these thoughts, however, was what Mysty witnessed next. Kneeling down in front of her to check for any signs of a more serious injury, Amy suddenly broke out into loud sobs of her own. The vixen was dumbfounded as the pink hedgehog hung her head low in shame and continued crying just as hard as Mysty herself had been before hearing Amy's approach a second ago. Curiosity and confusion at this totally unexpected reaction quickly prompted Mysty to say something, even if words proved difficult at the moment. "Amy? What's…?"

"I'm so sorry, Mysty!" came the pink hedgehog's frantic response in a sudden volume that made the vixen jerk back in surprise. "All this time, Sonic trusted you and said you weren't like the rest of them, but I wouldn't listen! I just wanted to protect him, that's all! Tails has already been through so much that I just couldn't let some… some **prostitute** destroy what's left of his heart! So, I… I wanted to run you off, back to the city where I thought you belonged…" Amy began spurting out through her sudden sobs.

Still in shock while the pink hedgehog's heart spilled forth its rare confession, Mysty barely even dared to allow her chest to move in order to breathe. Was this why Amy acted the way she did towards her all along? Did she truly believe she would be that horrible to further torment an innocent soul that had already been through so much pain already?

These thoughts vanished instantly, however, as Mysty felt Amy forcefully grab her shoulder with one arm. Now scared that Amy might attack her, Mysty's eyes widened in fear. To her surprise, however, Amy instead continued on. "But, after hearing you talk about what you felt like back in the city… How you were forced to live… I just feel so horrible that I ever thought you were like that. You've gone through more than I can even imagine, and…" Amy's voice abruptly cut out as she forced herself to stop crying so heavily in order to finish her apology. "…And I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry," Amy finally stopped talking as her teary eyes finally found the courage to look up into Mysty's own.

The vixen was left speechless by the sudden emotional display. Was this really the same pink hedgehog that had been so hostile to her ever since the first day she had come home with Tails? Was Amy actually telling her the truth now, or was it an elaborate scheme to coerce her into returning to her cozy home where she and Rouge could further hurt her with their slanderous rumors? Looking into Amy's eyes, Mysty thought she could sense the feeling of sincerity in the pink hedgehog's actions, but that too could be faked.

"I can understand if you won't forgive me," Amy unexpectedly broke into through the standing silence as the pink hedgehog tried to finish wiping her own tears away from her eyes, almost embarrassed at her lack of control during her outburst. "I've said some things that I know must hurt a lot, but, to be honest, I don't think there's anyone out there better for Tails than you now."

Again, Mysty uncontrollably jerked back in surprise, freeing herself from Amy's weakened grasp so that she could run. But she didn't. Mysty remained seated on the cold, hard ground, staring back at Amy in disbelief. Her mind raced to look at every word she had said, every motion of her countenance that might betray a lie, but inside Mysty already believed what Amy had said was true. "It… It's okay. I forgive you," the vixen's crumbly voice finally broke free from her throat, instantly followed by a wave of relief that crashed across both females.

To Amy, those simple words removed what felt like the weight of seven Eggman's from her back as a small smile showed her immense relief. "So, you're not really going back to Central City again then, are you?" Amy asked to be sure.

Mysty found herself surprised as a moment of serious thought interrupted an immediate response. That same unknown drive that had originally sent her on her straight path back to the hated urban nightmare seemed to want Mysty to still turn down the offer of a life spent here with Tails. Even though she couldn't tell where or why these impulses kept surfacing from her mind, this time the idea was dismissed with ease. "No," Mysty simply replied as a tiny smile of her own began to form as well.

"Great! Now let's just start over from this point on, got it?" Amy seemed nearly jubilant at the second chance.

"Huh?" Mysty replied, confused as to what Amy meant by 'starting over'.

"Well, if you and I are going to be friends now, we have to start doing things together! And I think the perfect first step would be to go buy you some clothes of your own. Not that Cream's dresses and all don't fit you well enough, but they just don't quite seem to be your style, not to mention it's weird to see both of you wearing the same thing all the time," Amy commented as she eyed Mysty's now slightly torn and heavily stained borrowed clothing.

Mysty looked down at herself for a moment as well. The thought of getting new clothes just for her had never occurred to the penniless vixen before, but now that Amy mentioned it… "But, I don't have any money to spend on shopping for clothes," Mysty told the pink hedgehog quickly.

"Money? Ha! You don't need money to go shopping, silly!" Amy remarked excitedly as she flashed a plastic card from a small pocket in her skirt.

"But, Amy, I don't want to waste your…" Mysty tried to object once more, but was cut off before she could even finish this time.

"It's not wasting anything! Sonic always complains that I already have enough clothes for myself, so this time I can say that we're going shopping for you instead!" Amy outlined the whole plan, clearly ecstatic at the idea already to the point where Mysty felt afraid to say no.

"I guess if it's not going to be trouble, then…" Mysty finally gave in.

Amy visibly jumped to her feet in happiness at the vixen's response as she held out a hand to help Mysty stand up as well. "Okay, then! Tomorrow I'm going to take you to the mall and show you how a real woman lives! Oops, I-I mean…" Amy's excitement quickly left as she put her other hand to her mouth in horror, worried that she had just offended Mysty again after only just getting the vixen to trust her once more.

"Don't worry about it," Mysty actually found herself chuckling as Amy's enthusiasm proved a bit contagious. Grabbing the gloved hand that Amy had offered, Mystique slowly pulled herself back to standing upright again and tried to dust herself off as best she could. "But… I might like some help getting back to Mrs. Vanilla's house if you don't mind," Mysty admitted, only now remembering that she was completely lost in the foreign countryside once more.

"Oh, right," Amy replied with a noticeable sigh of relief as she slowly started to walk ahead of Mysty, leading the way back to where the vixen was still staying and was likely becoming missed by now. Both of them now hoped that Mrs. Vanilla wouldn't have too many questions seeing them arrive together and the condition Mysty was in from falling into the sharp bush.

* * *

The leather-clad canine hurried down the nearly pitch black alleyway between two apartments. One would assume a rather muscular Mobian hound of his stature and dress not to be overly concerned with appearance, contrary to the reason for his late night expedition out from his run-down apartment home in the first place. This otherwise imposing gang member wouldn't scare even a little child right now, not with almost half of his face wrapped neatly in white surgical gauze.

He couldn't begin to describe the humiliation. Not only had he been beaten senseless twice in the last few days, plenty reason enough for his whole gang to burst into a fit of disowning laughter at their last meeting, but no one would accept the truth of just **who** had done this to him, either. Not the cops who found him unconscious after an 'anonymous' tip a couple days ago, not the surgeons and nurses at the hospital where he had to go so they could reconstruct the long nose on his face, not even the drunkards at the local tavern would listen to his story seriously. No one in the whole city seemed to be capable of entertaining the thought that Sonic and Tails, the 'mighty protectors' of this rat hole of a metropolis, would actually attack some random thug on the streets. And even if someone was willing to believe it, they only did so thinking that he'd done something to deserve it. The canine almost didn't doubt the thought that either of those two could rob a bank in broad daylight, and no one would still dare to accuse them.

After a full day's time of being the laughing stock of the seedier side of town, the canine had finally decided to disappear. Still, food didn't bring itself to his door, forcing him to risk more ridicule on this late night trip for groceries. All he could hope was for tonight to pass uneventfully and without being recognized by anyone.

"Oh, I see. So that's why they call you 'Stubby'," a voice suddenly came from in front of the hound as he was checking over his shoulder for anyone following him.

So much for not being recognized. "Yeah, I bet they probably do. Now what you want to make of it?" the leather-clad brute spoke as he quickly turned his head forward again to face whoever was greeting him in the dark alley.

The figure was hard to make out in the darkness. Since the only light that entered the alley was from its entrance, conveniently just where the stranger also now stood, the Mobian was back-lighted, leaving just a silhouette visible to Stubby's eyes. The stature of the stranger was familiar, though, and the hound instinctively recoiled at the comparison. "W-Wait! I-It's you again!" the canine suddenly lost all his earlier hostility as the familiar black outline of a hedgehog brought back painful memories.

"I believe you are confused. We've never met," the stranger muttered with a slight bit of amusement as he stepped forward into the alley, grinning as the muscular hound stepped back in response. _Whatever Sonic did to this street trash, it certainly is working in my favor,_ the unidentified hedgehog smirked even wider. "I'll cut to the chase... You're the last person people say actually saw a certain young vixen, and I'm trying to find her."

A moment passed as the fear in the canine's eyes dimmed, replaced slowly by realization that this couldn't possibly be Sonic. When Sonic had come to him last, he'd acted like he'd known a lot about Mysty, including her whereabouts, so the blue hero returning now to ask him this sounded just a little too odd. "You a cop, then?" Stubby responded, his defiance slowly making its way back into his voice.

"No, nor am I interested in anything you do or might have done. All I want is information about this fox with the unusual tails," the hedgehog responded as he finally was able to approach within arm's length of the much bigger canine.

"What, you mean Sonic's little brat friend?" the canine became confused at the stranger's question.

"I believe I already told you she was a female," the dark figure repeated himself, a bit annoyed at the canine's incompetence now that he wasn't feeling so threatened anymore.

With his imposing size over the mysterious hedgehog as well, it came as no surprise. "Well, if you're trying to tell me that Sonic's freaky buddy is actually a chick…" the hound began to scoff as he wondered if perhaps he'd finally found someone crazier than people had been saying he was.

With alarming speed, Stubby suddenly found himself dragged down by the collar of his leather jacket to eye level with the stranger. This close to the individual, the canine could make out a face almost exactly the same as Sonic's except for the jet black fur where the famous hedgehog's blue should be. He could have just blamed it on the lack of light, however, if it wasn't also for this Mobian's eyes. The piercing red orbs instantly burned their gaze into his vision, so that Stubby found himself unable to observe any more of the face than just the area around these dangerous crimson irises. "You're not listening to me," the mouth on this hedgehog's yellowish muzzle slowly and softly spoke. "I'm looking for a female fox named Mysty. Now, you where the last one to see her, right?" the individual interrogated the canine one last time, with a thinly veiled tone of promised violence should he not cooperate.

"Y-Yeah! Sure! I-I-It was right here, actually! Only about a few days ago!" Stubby quickly blurted out as already he imagined the pain of yet another crippling punch to his already reconstructed face.

"Well, where'd she go?" those scarlet eyes inquired, never letting up the ominous gaze for an instant.

"It was like I keep telling people! Sonic's little brat partner came around, poking his nose where it didn't belong, and ended up drop kicking me from midair! I don't know what happened after that because the little twerp broke my nose!" the scared canine recapped that day's events as concisely as possible.

The hedgehog's dangerous stare only seemed to harden more at the anger in the canine's voice. Stubby swore that any second now he was about to get a whole lot more fresh blood on these facial bandages as the tough canine forced his eyes closed in anticipation of the pain.

Seconds later, Stubby lost his balance as suddenly the hedgehog released his grip on the canine's black leather collar. Catching himself with his hands on the alley pavement before his bandaged nose could come in contact with the hard asphalt, the terrified hound slowly lifted his head to look at the hedgehog, fully expecting a kick to the face for his effort.

Surprisingly, however, the mysterious stranger was missing. The Sonic impersonator had somehow disappeared with a speed Stubby only believed the original could possess. With a sigh of relief, the well-built canine finally got back on his feet. He wasn't going to tell a soul about this, especially not how such a powerful brute had been begging like an infant to some stranger in the night. As a matter of fact, he no longer even felt hungry and decided to just go back to his apartment and possibly rethink some of his major choices in life.


	11. Chapter 11: Mayhem in the Mall

Incest

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any related characters. They are property of Sega. Mysty, however, is my own original character and may only be used with my permission. (not that I've had anyone interested enough to make that a problem so far XD)

This chapter has been a long time coming, and I'm very grateful to all you readers who continue to follow this story. Hopefully this nice, long chapter will make it up to all of you who have been waiting so patiently. I would also like to note that this chapter is being posted just two days before I get married on July 11th, so think of it as a wedding present from me to all of you guys! Hopefully you will all enjoy this chapter, and I look forward to reading the reviews on what you thought about it after I return from my honeymoon!

Chapter 11: Mayhem at the Mall

"Oh, please, Amy! Pleeeease can I come, too?" the young rabbit begged as her chao partner mimicked her actions. No sooner then Amy had shown up at the Rabbits' home to take Mysty on their shopping trip this morning had Cream found out that the two of them planned to go into the city and to the mall today. Naturally, this meant that Cream now desperately wanted to go with them.

"Uhh, Cream, well…" Amy scratched her ear as she tried to decide if taking the young bunny with her and Mysty was really such a good idea. After all, today was all about trying to prove to Mysty how sorry Amy truly felt for the way she had been treating the unfortunate vixen. If Cream went along with them, then the whole day might be spent doing whatever the excited young rabbit thought would be fun instead. Plus, there were a couple of shops in the mall which Amy had in mind to find Mysty some new apparel that she wasn't too sure Mrs. Vanilla would approve of Cream visiting.

"Oh, come on, Amy! You and I haven't gone to the city together in forever!" Cream still begged as Cheese offered several desperate 'Chao's in addition.

"Now, Cream," the young rabbit's mother called out from the sofa nearby where she was busy knitting a large blanket that she had started as a hobby a month ago. "I don't believe that Amy has invited you to go with her this time, has she?"

"Well, no, but I don't see why I can't go with them, mom," Cream answered back as respectfully as her eagerness would allow for. "You're both going to the mall, right? Please let me come, too! I promise I'll never ask for a thing!" the bunny immediately switched back to pleading with the pink hedgehog.

"Cream, I… You know I'd normally love to let you come, but…" Amy stuttered out, still trying to formulate in her mind an excuse that would both satisfy the overly eager bunny and not be too far from the actual truth.

"But, Amy!" Cream blurted out as she looked at the pink hedgehog with an expression of hurt in her cute, large eyes. Also, again, Cheese mimicked exactly the young rabbit's expression, giving Amy an unbearably cute pouty face underneath the floating chao's halo.

Amy cringed under the pressure of the double sets of puppy dog eyes that would so often work to change her decisions. This morning, however, Amy found the strength somewhere inside herself to resist. "Cream, I'm sorry, but I just really don't think it would be appropriate for someone your age to…" the hedgehog tried to give her best excuse.

"That's what you said about your girls' party at your house last night, too!" Cream shouted, now visibly angered by Amy's refusal.

This comment made Amy quite uncomfortable, especially as the pink hedgehog caught Mrs. Vanilla also staring at her for a moment after it was made. The brief glance unnerved Amy as she realized what Mrs. Vanilla was likely thinking. After inviting Mysty over last night to a private party at her house and bringing Mysty back so late with all those cuts and her dirty clothes, Amy would have to admit that she would be suspicious, too. She knew that Mrs. Vanilla hadn't been told anything about last night yet, so Amy understood the mother rabbit's scrutiny. Even so, it didn't do much to calm Amy's nerves knowing that Mrs. Vanilla was only looking at her because she wasn't there to witness her and Mysty make up last night.

"I…" Amy tried to focus her attention back on Cream again and forget Mrs. Vanilla's troubling stare.

"No! You're supposed to be my best friend, Amy!" the upset young rabbit quickly interrupted, clearly not happy with being blown off so often recently.

"Cream! That's enough, young lady! You go to your room right this instant!" Mrs. Vanilla called out in shock at her daughter's sudden hurtful reaction. She might not be able to force Amy to treat other people politely, as she still thought was the problem between Amy and Mysty, but Mrs. Vanilla would be darned if her own daughter behaved in such a manner as well.

"No, wait, Mrs. Vanilla," a new voice called out from the stairs as Mysty joined the other women in the rabbits' living room, having finally finished with her preparation in the upstairs bathroom. "It should be fine for Cream to come with us. We're not going anywhere bad, after all; just to the mall," the vixen added. After all, Mysty and Cream were becoming good friends by now, and the bushy-tailed vixen didn't think it would be fair to leave Cream here all day while her and Amy both went shopping at the mall. If nothing else, Mysty felt that it would be comforting to have Cream around today, too, in case Amy's apology last night turned out to be another insincere trap like the vixen still almost half expected.

"That's very kind of you, honey, but I'm afraid that Cream deserves to be punished for what she just said to Amy," Mrs. Vanilla remarked, dropping her knitting supplies to get out of her lounge chair and move close enough to grab Cream if she tried to complain again.

"Hang on, Mrs. Vanilla," Amy suddenly interjected, stopping the older rabbit just before she grabbed Cream to lead the rebellious bunny to her room. "Cream was actually right. I've been excluding her a lot recently, so it's really my fault that she got angry with me. Mysty's got a good point, too. So, I guess Cream can come with us."

Mrs. Vanilla gave a somewhat surprised look at Amy, as it was obvious that the mother didn't really understand what to do in this situation. Should she go ahead and punish Cream even after the wronged party claimed that the outburst was warranted? Looking down at the hopeful faces on her daughter and the small chao perched on the rabbit's shoulder, Mrs. Vanilla gradually let out a long sigh. "Well, I guess it's fine with me if it's okay with both of you," she finally responded to the female hedgehog and fox. "But don't think that you won't be in trouble for what you said when you get home later, Cream," Vanilla added with a stern glare to her daughter to ensure that she got the message.

Although scared at the thought of the delayed punishment, Cream's face quickly lit up in excitement as she skipped happily over to the door. "Yay! Thank you, Amy! Let's go!"

Amy let out a light sigh and Mysty tried her best to hide her short giggle as the two followed the energetic bunny and her chao out the door.

* * *

She'd never been so tired in her whole life. She'd been in and out of so many outfits today that Mysty began to doubt what she even looked like. Her legs ached from the constant walking from store to store. Her arms struggled to carry the load of large, brightly colored bags hanging from each of them like a coat rack. Her head pounded from the constant noise of other Mobians and stereo speakers coming from every location. Worst of all, part of her skin on her hands was breaking out in unbearably itchy hives from some kind of free sample of moisturizer that Amy had encouraged Mysty to try out. Unwilling to continue any farther without a break, Mysty quickly sat down at the nearest unoccupied wooden bench. If this was the 'fun' of shopping, then she'd let another girl take her place any day.

Before Mysty could find any relief in sitting down for a quick rest, Amy and Cream emerged from a nearby shop and hurried over to the tired vixen. "Oh, Mysty, you should really see these cute sunglasses this store has!" Cream shouted out in excitement while pointing to the location where she and Amy had just come from.

"Yeah, but those really wouldn't fit with Mysty's style, Cream," Amy immediately responded. "Plus, they aren't the right size for a Mobian with a larger nose."

"But Mysty's nose isn't that long, Amy!" Cream objected, clearly determined that the vixen would look great in whatever pair of sunglasses the two were debating over.

"Well, I suppose we could always just have her try them on and see," Amy proposed as it was obvious on both the female hedgehog and bunny's faces that they were eager to discover who's fashion sense was correct in this case.

However, this excitement wasn't shared by the one who would be the model. At the threat of visiting yet another store for something as trivial an accessory as sunglasses, Mysty could no longer help herself but to give out a short, agitated moan.

As one who was commonly very sensitive to other people's emotions, Cream immediately picked up on the auditory clue and looked back at Mysty in concern. "Mysty, are you OK?" the young bunny asked as Cheese flew off the rabbit's shoulder and hovered in close to the tired vixen as if to check on her. Even Amy suddenly snapped out of her shopping euphoria and finally took notice of Mysty's exhausted body language.

"I'm fine, really," Mysty reassured the others. "It's just that I've never done this before, and it's a lot harder than I thought." Mysty hadn't wanted to say anything before because she'd thought that it might ruin the fun that Amy and Cream were obviously having. Now, though, Mysty was at a point where she couldn't really hide her fatigue any longer.

Looking over the older vixen again, Cream realized that they had pushed Mysty too far on her first shopping trip and immediately began to feel guilty for not noticing sooner. "Amy, I really think we should give Mysty some time to rest for a minute," Cream now proposed, the thought of solving their sunglasses dilemma no longer seeming important anymore.

"I guess you're right, Cream, but we really don't have time to just sit around if we're going to visit that giant T. J. Mobius that just opened up at the other end of the mall today," Amy reminded both of the other females. When it came to shopping, Amy was a legend. As such, it commonly took either a natural disaster or the mall closing to get the pink hedgehog to leave once her mind was in the zone.

"But, look at Mysty, Amy! She's already exhausted!" Cream objected, ashamed that someone she looked up to as her older sister would put shopping above the wellbeing of another Mobian.

Quickly brought to reality by the young rabbit's stinging rebuke, Amy silently cursed herself for forgetting that Mysty was the whole reason they had even come here today. "Yeah, you're right, Cream. Sorry, Mysty, I sometimes just get a little carried away," the pink hedgehog nearly blushed at the awkwardness of having someone as young as Cream correcting her behavior when Amy knew that she was supposed to be the role model.

"It's all right," Mysty tiredly replied. "After all, I have had fun getting all these new outfits."

Even after her remark, though, Amy felt like she still owed it to Mysty to think of something that would make the vixen look back on today's trip as more enjoyable than it had been so far. "Oh, wait! I've got the perfect idea! Come on!" Amy quickly exclaimed as her memory of the mall's layout reminded her of something that might just do the trick.

Curiosity made Cream help Mysty back to her feet as the two quickly tried to keep up with Amy while the pink hedgehog hurried down the row of stores in the large hallway. Turning a corner, they spotted Amy beckoning them from the doorway of a slightly larger establishment that occupied nearly the space of three other stores.

Mysty's first reaction at seeing the size of the store was the urge to let out another annoyed groan, but, upon a moment's more of inspection, the vixen held off her disdain temporarily. This place wasn't just another store. She could tell that from the fact that there were no rows of shelves and racks with items stacked up on them inside. Instead, all that could be seen from the entrance was a front desk manned by a Mobian in surprisingly formal attire for a mall employee.

Cream recognized the location clearly, as the young rabbit no sooner looked at the place Amy was beckoning them towards then her eyes lit up in anticipation. "Oh, Amy! Do we really get to go in there?" the rabbit's excitement forced its way into her words as her and Mysty finally caught up to Amy at the entrance.

"Well, like I told you before, you're still too young according to the rules," Amy nearly regretted getting Cream's hopes up. "However, since I'm one of their most regular premium members, I think I can convince someone to let it slide just this once," the hedgehog immediately promised as she smiled at the look of barely contained joy on the small rabbit's face.

Seeing the overbearing excitement in Cream's eyes, followed by the triumphant shouts of 'Chao!' from the hovering Cheese, Mysty's curiosity about the location finally reached its peak. She just had to know what this place was that Amy was so familiar with and Cream was so excited to see. "Amy, what is this store, anyway?" the vixen asked.

"Store? Oh, it's not a store, Mysty!" Amy replied after a short laugh as she escorted the other women up to the front desk. "This… is heaven."

* * *

A white-gloved hand clenched angrily into a fist, tightly compacting the torn page from a public phone book into a yellow ball. One would think that somehow, somewhere, **somebody** would have to know the address of the single most famous fox on the planet. And yet, all day he had searched since the late night rendezvous with his facially reconstructed informant, and no one could give him any kind of indication where Tails' home was located. To think that he was so close to finding that vixen, even personally knowing the individuals that had taken her in, but unable to complete his task because he simply didn't know where they lived.

He'd come too far to give up the search now, though. Of course, it wasn't like giving up was every really an option to begin with. He was fairly certain that neither Tails nor any of his friends lived in the city itself because of all the attention that would likely draw. They had to live somewhere nearby, though, because of how frequently it sounded like Sonic and his vulpine partner rushed to save the city from Eggman's periodic attacks. He'd simply have to do things the hard way by searching the area around the city in ever widening circles until he found something that resembled a giant, secret workshop.

The figure grimaced at the task, however. With his speed, the search would take far less time than any other creature could possibly hope to achieve, but, depending on how far away the fox lived and how well hidden his home was, it could still take him days. With an annoyed 'Hmph', he tossed the crumbled scrap of paper over his shoulder where a gust of wind blew the piece of litter off the seven-story apartment roof. He might as well get started searching…

Just before he made a move to leave, the hooded figure suddenly noticed something odd in the skyline above the city. Some kind of large object seemed to be on a ballistic trajectory towards the edge of downtown. He covered his eyes as a blinding glint shone off the rounded object for a moment as it crossed the sun in the sky. It certainly wasn't anything natural, since its shape was too uniform and the material it was made of too glossy to be anything other than metal.

The figure smirked as he noted the object's probable landing site. There was only one explanation for a giant globe of metal falling toward the city. He also knew that this would make his job so much easier. Tossing aside his tattered makeshift cloak, he rushed towards the imminent impact zone, appearing only as a dark streak that jumped from roof to roof.

* * *

"Oh, Amy! I can't believe that you got me into the spa! My mother would kill me if she ever found out about this!" the gleeful rabbit giggled as her and Amy walked towards the front of the large outlet.

"No, she'd probably kill me first," Amy quickly replied in a strange mix of humor and stark concern.

Cream laughed at first, taking Amy's remark as a joke before sensing the slight hesitation in the pink hedgehog's voice. "Don't worry, Amy. I'm old enough to know how to keep a secret. Right, Cheese?" the young bunny smiled.

"Chao!" Cheese quickly replied before flying behind Cream's head so that its halo appeared to be floating above Cream while the rest of the small chao was obscured.

Amy couldn't help but laugh at the well-choreographed illusion. She could only imagine those two's enthusiasm at finding cute new tricks that took advantage of Cheese's recently acquired halo. "Sorry, Cream. It's sometimes just hard to remember that you're getting older when you and Cheese are still so cute," Amy finally replied.

Cream decided not to take offense at the comment and returned a prideful grin to the pink hedgehog. A few seconds of silence then passed between the two at the entrance to the spa. "I wonder when Mysty will be coming?" the young rabbit finally spoke as she looked back to see if the vixen was done with her treatment yet.

"Well, I only paid for an hour for all of us, so I guess she's just lucky enough to get a masseuse with a bad sense of time," Amy thought out loud as she looked back as well to see if Mysty was coming. A few seconds later, the familiar vixen emerged from a room into the front of the spa. "Oh, there she is! Hey, Mysty!" Amy yelled out while waving one arm above her head.

Noticing the two quickly, Mysty hurried over to join her friends.

"So, how was it?" Amy wasted no time in asking as soon as the vixen was standing next to her and Cream.

"It was… very relaxing," Mysty commented in a less than confident tone as she looked down towards her feet.

Cream, as always, immediately picked up on the difference between what Mysty was saying and how she acted. "Is something wrong, Mysty? You look upset," the bunny pointed out nicely.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just not used to getting this kind of treatment, I guess," the vixen replied quickly and in a much more sincere tone. "And, well… to be honest, I wish I had known that the masseuse was going to be a guy," Mysty also came clean into the source of her lingering fright.

Amy felt like almost whacking herself over the head with her own oversized hammer after hearing this. How could she have forgotten to tell the clerk at the front desk not to send a male to give Mysty her massage treatment? Here she was trying to apologize to Mysty with everything that they did today, but, once again, she'd only made things worse instead. "Oh, Mysty, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to put you into a situation like that," Amy immediately began to beg forgiveness.

"No, it's okay, actually, Amy," the vixen replied. "I've never been around a guy that I let touch me like that who wasn't wanting… well, something else," Mysty tried to refrain from discussing impressionable topics with Cream and Cheese also listening to the conversation. "I was really scared at first, but I think it was good for me to get over my fear. Besides, it really did feel relaxing."

"I know! I don't think I've ever felt this great before in my life!" Cream excitedly chimed in as Cheese agreed with a nod of its head and a quick 'Chao!'

"Yeah, maybe we can teach Sonic and Tails how to do this one day," Amy teased as she stretched her arms in ways that normally would hurt with sore muscles. The pink hedgehog then reached down to grab handfuls of colorful bags that held the group's purchases for today and began walking back into the busy halls of the mall once more. "Well, come on, ladies. I think it's time we started back home so we can enjoy these new wardrobes," Amy spoke over her shoulder happily.

Cream and Mysty quickly grabbed their bags as well and followed. The small trio of Mobians and their Chao grinned happily as they all walked back towards the exit. No one in the group felt like saying a word until Cream suddenly stopped right in front of the mall's giant food court.

"What's the matter, Cream? Are you hungry?" Amy asked as she and Mysty stopped as soon as they realized Cream wasn't following them.

"You don't hear something funny? Like something falling from really high up?" Cream quickly asked the other two females as the young rabbit's eyes started darting around the giant enclosed plaza before them to locate the source of the noise.

"What are you talking about, Cream? I think you've been watching too many cartoons. We're indoors, so how could anything be falling from…?" Amy started to answer sarcastically when the sound of a crowd of Mobians screaming was heard as everyone in the food court plaza ran or dove for cover as something huge came crashing through the scenic glass ceiling.

The object appeared at first to be a large ovoid meteor made entirely from metal. Around the food court, Mobians who had narrowly avoided being crushed or had suffered cuts from the raining glass scampered away from the object, while others stared at it in a look of confusion.

"Oh, this is just great," Amy remarked in a tone of exasperation, as if giant, round chunks of metal falling from the sky was a normal occurrence.

"See? I told you so," Cream commented immediately as she made a show of throwing her head back so her long ears flopped down the back of her shoulders.

Mysty was shocked at the unusual reactions of her companions as she stared at the object in slight horror. "W-what is…?" the vixen began to ask before the noise of a powerful loudspeaker cut her off.

"Whooooo hoo hoo hoo hoooo! Greetings, shoppers! Mind if my newest creation and I drop in for a meal?" the voice laughed as a familiar hoverchair descended through the broken rooftop.

"Most people would use the door, Eggman!" Amy shouted angrily at the figure as it reached a level altitude above the heads of the panicked Mobians that now ran for the nearest exits that they could find.

"Oh ho! And what have we here? Did I happen to disturb your little 'girl time'?" the Doctor bantered right back as he oriented himself to face Amy, Cream, and Mysty.

"You'd better just take yourself and whatever new piece of junk you've welded together out of here before Sonic comes," Amy warned, not showing the least bit of fright as she glared at Eggman forcefully.

"Ah, but, you see, that's exactly what I'm waiting for!" Eggman responded with a large grin as he quickly pressed a button on the controls in front of him. Instantly, two long arms shot out from the large metal object and gripped both Amy and Mysty, and, before either of them could react to even the pain of the tight squeeze, the robot's arms retracted, holding them both in the air while two large legs appeared from the bottom of the metal capsule. "Holding his wife hostage will certainly get that hedgehog's attention, and I'm sure that Tails will probably come too, thanks to his little girlfriend here," Eggman gloated happily.

"Amy! Mysty!" Cream shouted out in fear as the large robot snatched up her companions.

"Oh, give it up, Eggman!" Amy grunted out as she struggled against the unyielding grip of the egg-shaped robot. "You know how this always turns out, so stop wasting everyone's time."

Eggman's expression changed to one of hurt as he heard Amy's truthful remark. This quickly changed to visible anger as he yelled back at the petulant pink hedgehog. "How do you know that today won't be any different, Hmm? I guarantee that this new robot of mine can eliminate both Sonic and Tails easily, and today I will prove it! You should take lessons from your foxy friend here on how to be a proper hostage!" Eggman argued as he brought Amy's attention to Mysty who was clearly terrified and crying loudly in the other robot's hand.

"Eggman, you big bully!" Cream's voice shouted as the young rabbit and her chao jumped onto the robotic hands and tried to pry their friends free.

"Pint-sized pests…" Eggman grumbled as witnessed the pathetic rescue attempt. He quickly instructed the robot's hands to fling the chao away which was struggling futilely to free the crying vixen.

"Cheese!" Cream shouted in horror as a flick of one of the robot's metal fingers sent the chao tumbling off through the air. Seconds later, a rapid shake of the other hand Cream was on sent the rabbit falling hard to the ground at the tall robot's feet.

"Cream! Have you lost your mind, Eggman? You could have hurt her!" Amy now berated Eggman all the more angrily as she swore she would pummel him down into his floating chair right now if she could only move her arms enough to swing her hammer.

"Oh? Dear me, well it simply won't do for my big, dangerous robot to accidentally hurt someone, now, would it?" Eggman mocked back. "As a matter of fact, I don't think I could live with myself if my giant robot managed to somehow injure Sonic or Tails," the evil genius continued talking in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Before any further bantering could be made, however, a portion of cinderblock wall nearby quickly blasted itself inwards, kicking up a large cloud of dust that silhouetted the figure slowly stepping into the mall towards Eggman's robot. "That sounds a bit more heartless of you than I remember," the figure observed in a flat voice.

Eggman quickly glanced over at the noise of the small explosion and smirked at the hazy shape of the figure advancing towards them. "And I've never known you to hold such little regard for the preservation of public property, Sonic. The mall does have doors, you know," Eggman taunted with a grin.

"Sonic! What took so long? Get us out of here!" Amy immediately replied in excitement, feeling confident that her husband would save her and Mysty without too much effort now that he had arrived.

"Hmm. You never could seem to tell us apart," the voice came again in response to Amy's pleas. The look of confusion was evident on everyone's face after this cryptic remark, only to be replaced by shock as the figure stepped out of the dust cloud and into the bright light coming through the broken glass ceiling.

"M-mister Shadow?" Cream was the first to recover her voice as she slowly got up from the floor and Cheese quickly hid behind her shoulder in fear.

Eggman's jaw remained wide open as the impossible apparition stood calmly in front of them. "It can't be... How could you have possibly survived that explosion?" Eggman spoke in disbelief, since he knew that it would be impossible for Shadow to have survived after his sacrifice during the final battle against the Metarex two years ago.

A smirk crossed Shadow's visage at this question. "Even you wouldn't understand the answer, Eggman," the black hedgehog replied smugly. "But I'm not here for a reunion. You are going to…" Shadow began to demand that Eggman cooperate with him in his currently unspecified mission before his eyes met Mysty in the robot's right hand.

Mysty felt very unsettled as the ebony hedgehog's eyes seemed to latch their gaze on hers. Although most of her body was concealed behind the crushing grip of the robotic hand's fingers, Shadow's gaze seemed to stare right through them. There was a critical look in his eyes, like a hardnosed inspector determined to find some kind of fault in an experienced apprentice's work. Already nervous about men as it was, Mysty could hardly say that she was anything less than terrified by Shadow, far worse than she felt towards either Knuckles, Vector, or even some of the men she'd had business with before in this city.

And Shadow's growing smile did very little to calm Mysty's fears.

"I found you at last…" Shadow confidently muttered as he began walking towards the egg-shaped robot. "Good to see that Eggman's plans can be useful on occasion." Then, without warning, Shadow ducked into a spinning black ball and sliced the right hand of the robot clean off at what would have been the machine's shoulder.

"And just what was that for?" Eggman shouted angrily at having his newest robot already crippled by the only Mobian who he thought was on his side. Meanwhile, the robot's programming immediately labeled Shadow as hostile automatically and tried to swing a massive punch at the black hedgehog with its remaining hand, thankfully dropping Amy to the ground safely in the process.

Shadow easily sidestepped the one-armed haymaker. "You really thought that this thing would even give that faker a challenge?" Shadow scoffed. He hadn't planned on fully destroying the robot earlier, but now the hedgehog seemed to see no alternative. Holding two hands close together as if he had stopped them in mid-clap, a white glow of energy rapidly coalesced into a bright arrowhead. "Chaos Spear!" Shadow finally shouted as the pent up bolt shot out from his hands like a laser and pierced straight through the core of the large robot.

"Gaaaahhhh! No fair! Sonic and Tails aren't even here yet, and my robot is already destroyed! You'd better have a good explanation for all this, Shadow!" an enraged Eggman bellowed from his floating pod as his newest creation crashed lifelessly to the mall's floor.

"I'm doing what I have to," Shadow succinctly replied as he then rushed over towards the fallen right arm of the robot. It only took him a matter of seconds to pry open the iron grip surrounding the vixen and lift Mysty onto her feet by her wrist.

Normally, Mysty would have imagined that she might have screamed at such a rough handling, but Shadow seemed so imposing to her that somehow she felt scared beyond the point of going hysterical. Instead, she stood there; her left wrist completely restrained by Shadow's strong hand as tears streamed down her face in terror.

"Mr. Shadow, you're scaring her!" Cream shouted in objection to how Mysty was currently being treated while Cheese voiced its protests loudly as well.

"What do you want with Mysty anyway?" Amy called out as well, horrified that Shadow would scare the vixen this way and yet still completely dumbfounded on what was even happening in the first place.

"So, you never told them?" Shadow instead replied with a mix of surprise and amusement directed towards the captive vixen. He reached back with his free hand into the fur of her uncommonly large tail, feeling around until he found an old rubber band concealed perfectly by the long hair around it.

Mysty's expression changed from ever-growing terror into shock as Shadow's hand grabbed the hidden fastener. How could he have possibly known about that? She'd never told anyone…! "No, please! Stop!" Mysty finally formed her first words of defense as the vixen started attempting to wriggle her wrist free from Shadow's grip. She saw Amy and Cream finally come running up to try and help her, each shouting hollow threats towards Shadow. However, his gloved hand remained firm around the rubber band, pulling on it to stretch the aging elastic. "Stop! Please!" Mysty knew the old rubber band wouldn't be able to stand up to much strain, and her eyes immediately jammed themselves closed against a fresh wave of tears as the elastic finally gave way with a loud snap.

Shadow was hardly able to drop the broken rubber band to the floor, however, before a strange beam of light restrained all his movements. The black hedgehog snarled as his eyes darted around to find the source of this unanticipated force field. It was little surprise to him when Shadow determined that it was coming from Eggman's pod.

"Now, Shadow! I honestly don't know what's gotten into you, but, after trashing my latest robot, you should consider yourself lucky that I'm even being merciful," Eggman jeered as it was clear that he had now come up with a spur of the moment Plan B for this situation. "Why, I'm not even sure whose side you're on anymore! Obviously you and I have a lot of catching up to do, so I'm inviting you over to my place... And I won't take 'no' for an answer!" the evil genius announced as his chair began to ascend rapidly towards the large hole in the glass ceiling.

Shadow grunted and tried his best to move against the power of the force field encapsulating him, but it was simply too strong. He couldn't reach a chaos emerald even if he had one to use Chaos Control, and soon he felt himself being lifted up into the air as if he was getting towed behind Eggman's chair. "Release me, Eggman! You have no idea what you're doing!" Shadow yelled as Mysty finally slipped through his grip and fell on her bottom in a sitting position amid the carnage of the mall's food court. Shadow's pleas went unanswered, however, as the enraged black hedgehog soon disappeared with Eggman into the sky.

"Mysty, are you all right?" Cream quickly asked as she hurried to hug the crying vixen, followed closely by Amy who kneeled down beside Mysty and put a worried hand on the fox's shoulder.

"What was Shadow doing to you, Mysty? I just can't imagine him acting this way, especially since we all thought he was dead, too," Amy tried to console the crying vixen as well before a powerful downdraft started whipping strong winds around the room and forced the three females and chao to shield their faces.

Seconds later, the X-Cyclone touched down after landing through the hole in the roof and a familiar voice greeted the huddled women. "Is everyone okay here?" the concerned voice came from a blue hedgehog that seemed to just appear out of nowhere.

"Oh, Sonic!" Amy immediately welcomed her husband as she flung herself into a tight embrace with her hero. Normally, Amy knew that she would make some kind of smart remark about him being late and missing all the action, but so much had transpired in the last few minutes that the pink hedgehog was left far too confused and overwhelmed to make a joke.

"Mysty!" another voice called out as Tails rushed out from the now open cockpit towards the crying vixen. "What happened? Are you okay?" the panicked male fox quickly asked as he kneeled down to inspect Mysty for any injuries.

"I think she's just a bit scared, Tails. I don't remember her getting really hurt anywhere," Cream spoke up as she was already attending to the weeping and unresponsive vixen.

"So would someone mind telling us just what the heck happened here? It looks like I already missed the party," Sonic quickly spoke up as he attempted to gently pry Amy off of him while surveying the destruction and broken robot parts strewn all around the food court.

Amy finally let go of her tight hug in order to give her answer. "It… it was Shadow," the pink hedgehog spoke plainly, although her tone of voice was like that of a person trying to convince a skeptic that their house was undeniably haunted. Of course, for all anyone had known before today, spotting Shadow really would mean seeing a ghost.

"What?" Tails exclaimed as the fox was nearly so stunned that he almost fell over while trying to stand back up at that moment.

Sonic's face looked completely shocked too for just a minute, before the blue hedgehog started to crack a small grin. "Ha ha! Okay, Ames, that was a good one! You really had me and Tails going there for a second…" Sonic started to laugh heartily.

"No, Mr. Sonic! Amy is telling the truth! I saw Shadow, too! He came and rescued Amy and Mysty from Eggman's robot," Cream immediately spoke up as she defended Amy's honest claim.

"Wait, huh? Are you girls really serious about what you're saying?" Sonic immediately ceased his laughter as the mood changed severely.

"But, Cream… That's just impossible! We all saw what happened to Shadow two years ago in the final fight against the Metarex. No one could have survived that, not even him," Tails tried to correct the obviously delusional females.

"Well, say what you will, you two, but I know what all three of us saw!" Amy remarked petulantly as she crossed her arms at her waist, a move that Cream quickly mimicked as well. "Shadow came busting through that wall over there and took out the robot who had me and Mysty trapped."

"Even if that's true, Amy, why would Shadow destroy Eggman's robot? Didn't Shadow and Eggman used to always work together?" Tails brought up the valid point, as he still doubted the incredible story that he and Sonic were being told.

"Well, yeah, of course I remember that!" Amy indignantly remarked as she began to feel more than a little irritated that neither Sonic nor Tails believed her yet. "But… I guess that is a good question. Why did Shadow save us? He didn't really give any reason before he attacked the robot," Amy's growing rage turned to curiosity for an answer to the obvious question she had overlooked until now.

"I think he was after Mysty, Amy," Cream spoke up again as she helped Mysty to her feet, although the vixen insisted on hugging her large tail tightly as its long fur absorbed her tears. "It looked like he was going to kidnap her or something before Eggman took Mr. Shadow away."

"Oh yeah, that's right! Shadow said some weird stuff about Mysty not telling us something yet. Then he stuck his hand in the fur of her tail before Eggman stopped him," Amy suddenly recalled the series of unexplainable events just minutes ago.

"Wait, huh?" Tails muttered out loud as he scratched the top of his head in confusion. "You're saying that not only was Shadow actually here, but that he seemed to be after Mysty?" the confused fox tried to see if he understood Amy and Cream's ridiculous story so far.

"It certainly looked that way, Tails," Cream quickly verified Tails' short summary of events.

"But, why?" Tails immediately responded in kind as he cast his gaze on the crying vixen who still held her large tail in front of her with a tight grip. Tails couldn't help but wonder just what kind of secrets Mysty was still hiding from him that would be important enough for Shadow to somehow come back from the dead in order to obtain from her.

Amy just shrugged at Tails' second question. "How would I know? All I can tell is that Mysty was strangely important to Shadow for some reason," the pink hedgehog answered matter-of-factly.

"I'm still having a bit of trouble believing all of this," Sonic admitted as the blue hedgehog finally spoke up again. "But, from the looks of things, everything's under control here now, so how about we head on back home? Maybe it will make Mysty feel better," Sonic guessed as he hoped to put an end to the vixen's unabated tears.

Cream's expression seemed to perk up at Sonic's suggestion. "Oh! My mother could probably bake us a pie for dinner, Mysty! That always makes me happier," the excited young bunny commented.

"Actually, Cream, I think that maybe Mysty would be happier if she could stay with Tails at his house tonight," Amy quickly interjected.

"She can?" Tails remarked in mild shock as he thought that the last person on Mobius to ever say those words would be Amy.

"She can?" Sonic simultaneously mimicked as well, showing even more surprise than Tails. No doubt the blue hedgehog was wondering to himself what had happened to the Amy that had wanted to ship Mysty back to the city to fend for herself just yesterday.

Amy looked slightly annoyed at both of the males' reactions. Did they really have to act so surprised whenever she finally tried to show that she trusted Mysty now? "Of course she can! Look at the poor thing. She's still terrified, and we all know that Tails is the person she is the most comfortable with," Amy tried to preserve her pride as she made it sound like her suggestion was mostly logical instead of an obvious change of heart.

"Aww… I liked having Mysty in my house to play with," Cream reacted with a pouting face. "But, at least she won't have to pack anything since all her clothes and stuff is right here," the young rabbit mentioned as she pointed to their pile of shopping bags left safely at the far end of the food court where the girls had left them when Eggman's robot first broke through the roof. "Mysty, you'll just have to promise me that you'll come by and visit a lot, okay?" Cream pleaded as her and Cheese both stared at the vixen cutely.

"Wait, hang on just a moment, guys," Tails interrupted as he felt like Amy's brief approval had somehow suddenly become a law. "Don't you think that we should ask Mysty what she wants first?" he pointed out as Tails couldn't stand everyone talking about Mysty as if she wasn't standing right there.

"I… I'd like to stay with you, Tails… if that's all right," Mysty finally spoke up as the vixen's sobs had gradually calmed into silent tears during the discussion.

Tails felt himself give a comforting grin at Mysty's answer. "Of course it's all right. Like I told you when we first met, I've got a pretty big house to be living in all by myself."

The sound of sirens and hurrying news crews from the parking lot outside quickly cut the conversation short as the whole group turned to glance at the large exterior glass doors of the mall. "Well, unless we all want to try and explain to these people that a dead hedgehog came in here and beat up Eggman's robot for no reason, I think this is our cue," Sonic was the first to speak as the rest of the group nodded in understanding and hurried towards the X-Cyclone.

"What about our shopping bags?" Cream suddenly spoke up as she and Amy climbed in the rear cockpit.

"I'm on it!" Sonic answered quickly. In a blue flash, all the accidentally abandoned shopping bags that belonged to the female trio were gathered up and deposited in Amy's lap.

"Take off!" Tails then announced from the forward cockpit as the glass canopies closed and the X-Cyclone's engines roared to life. Tails almost wanted to apologize as he felt Mysty grip tightly to his seat from the chair behind him. Someday he'd have to get her over her slight fear of flying. With a quick thumbs up from Sonic standing on the back of the walker, Tails hit the throttle and piloted the machine back up through the missing food court roof. Once they were hovering safely at a good height above the mall, Tails transformed the X-Cyclone back into its default airplane configuration, and the X-Tornado zoomed off towards home.


End file.
